Straw Poll Cites Bt Benefits
April 4, 2011 
Respondents were able to assign value on a scale of 1 – 5 to each of 11 benefits listed, with 5 having the most value to growers.
Maintaining beneficial populations and having no wait to harvest tied for second in the poll, followed in order by labor management (four-hour REI), zero residues, certified organic and extending the life cycle of other important pest control tools.
Overall, more than 75% of growers assigned a value rating of 4 or 5 to six of the 11 benefits listed:
• Market Proven (78.4%)
• High Efficacy (78.0%)
• Extends Life Cycle of other Important Tools (81.4%)
• Maintain Beneficial Populations (85.2%)
• Labor Management (76.9%)
• No Human Toxicity (82.1%)
In addition, Improved Program Economics, Zero Residues, and Harvest Management benefits each earned a value rating of 4 or 5 value from more than 70% of growers taking the survey.
“Obviously, we’re quite pleased with the results of the poll," said Dr. Russell Eldridge, part of the Valent BioSciences team that helps educate growers on the broad range of benefits of using Bts in an integrated program. "These products have a multi-faceted value proposition that makes them unique, and it’s good to see that growers are becoming more atuned to the sum total of these benefits."
In a separate question, asked differently, about the “core benefit” of using Bts, growers selected “highly effective control of worm pests” from possible responses that included price advantage, early season kill rate, preharvest interval and zero residues.
Visitors to our website BioRationalApproach.com indicated that our review of an IPM approach with consultants had been the most valuable to them, followed closely by hearing from fellow growers and seeing DiPel and XenTari used in the field. When asked what they would like to see more of on the website, most chose written content on the web. Special e-news sends and video were a close second and third while audio files came in a distant fourth.
“Our research shows that growers put a great deal of stock in what their peers have to say about value." Eldridge said. "It’s our job to deliver that value, and we’re glad to be able to share those experiences through the BioRational Approach program."