On Monday, two entomologists from the University of Illinois went to Livingston and Kankakee counties where they spotted severe corn rootworm damage in two fields planted with Bt corn. Bt corn was engineered to protect crops from this very situation by producing an insecticidal protein derived from Bacillus thuringiensis.

Illinois corn farmers practice rotation farming to help minimize the damage caused by pests, but the corn rootworm is rotation-resistant and now seems to be Bt resistant as well.

Joe Spencer and Michael Gray, the two entomologists, will run tests to confirm that these rootworms have acquired a resistance to the poison-producing corn.