USDA Opens Public Comment on Pioneer’s Insect-Resistant Biotech Soybean
01 September 2026, Washington, D.C.: USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) began a 60-day public comment period on August 18 for a petition from Pioneer Hi-Bred International, seeking approval to commercially release a new genetically engineered soybean designed to resist certain caterpillar pests without regulatory oversight. The petition, published in the Federal Register under Docket No. APHIS-2026-1090, covers a soybean variety identified as COR-23134-4, developed by Pioneer, a unit of Corteva Agriscience headquartered in Johnston, Iowa.
The soybean has been engineered to express three insecticidal proteins, Cry1B.34.1, Cry1B.61.1, and IPD083Cb, intended to protect the plant against susceptible lepidopteran pests, the insect order that includes moths and their larvae, several species of which cause significant yield damage in soybean fields. The variety also carries a GM-HRA protein used during development as a selectable marker rather than for pest control. Pioneer’s petition, filed under APHIS number 25-349-01p, argues the soybean is unlikely to pose a plant pest risk and should therefore be granted nonregulated status under the agency’s biotechnology rules in 7 CFR part 340.
Alongside the petition, APHIS released a draft plant pest risk assessment, the technical document the agency uses to evaluate whether a genetically engineered crop could behave as a plant pest under federal law. The draft assessment is open for public review alongside the petition itself, and APHIS is asking commenters to submit supporting scientific data, studies, or research rather than general opinion where possible. Comments close October 19 and can be filed through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at regulations.gov.
The process follows the same regulatory pathway APHIS has used for prior genetically engineered crop approvals: developer files a petition, the agency prepares a risk assessment, the public comments, and APHIS ultimately issues a determination on regulatory status. If COR-23134-4 is deregulated, it would join a long list of biotech soybean, corn, and cotton traits that no longer require APHIS permits for interstate movement, cultivation, or import once approved, though separate reviews by the Environmental Protection Agency for pesticidal traits and the Food and Drug Administration for food and feed safety typically run in parallel or have already been completed by the time APHIS acts.
For Pioneer and its parent company Corteva, the filing represents the next step in a pipeline of insect-resistance traits aimed at giving soybean growers additional tools as resistance to older technologies builds in certain pest populations. Because the comment period runs into mid-October, any final determination from APHIS is unlikely before early 2027 at the soonest, based on the pace of comparable past reviews.
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