Resistance management and sustainable use of agricultural biotechnology

Abstract

While crop biotechnologies deployed worldwide with herbicide-resistant (HR) or insect-resistant (IR) traits have provided significant economic and environmental benefits, these benefits are threatened by the evolution of insect and weed resistance. This article examines why field-level resistance has not posed a problem for IR crops but has become a growing problem for HR crops. Key factors include compatibility of the technologies with integrated pest and weed management and the regulatory and institutional setting in which they were deployed.