tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27951078.post2636972991897713631..comments2024-02-02T05:45:33.724-06:00Comments on Incoming: John Phippshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03245790061133614986noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27951078.post-49861082798339864102010-04-08T10:50:38.243-06:002010-04-08T10:50:38.243-06:00I would have thought that corn borer populations, ...I would have thought that corn borer populations, while being reduced, would be hard to get to zero due to refuge requirements - which in turn helps to delay the evolution of resistance - which in turn will hopefully be manageable with multiple IR traits stacked.<br /><br />So it may be a profitable strategy to ditch IR traits assuming everyone around you doesn't do the same, however a widespread move away from the technology would surely (perhaps over a year or two) essentially put you right back at square one?<br /><br />My feel is that Monsanto profitability in herbicide isn't due to less glyphosate useage, but due to the massively intense competition in the glyphosate market - Monsanto took a beating last year, and had to severely reduce pricing this year while still seeing massive levels of competition for herbicide, combine this with low end adoption of targetted rates for RR2Y soy and martstax corn this year (and stagnant growth or reduction in market share in corn/soy respectively - which hurts and confuses when you've got a monopoly...) and a doubling of gross profit from 07 to 12 just seems unlikely - the next couple of years will show how well adoption of RR2Y and smartstax goes after release year, and how Monsanto strategy may change around new releases so that greater market penetrance can be achieved in the year of release.Ewan Rnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27951078.post-16704446038634771932010-04-07T22:06:54.768-06:002010-04-07T22:06:54.768-06:00FWIW: I grow a corn test plot every year. 5 year...FWIW: I grow a corn test plot every year. 5 years ago bt hybrids always topped the plots. The last 2 years there has been no significant difference between the top traited or untraited corn.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com