"By 2018, farmers were spending an average of $23.58 per hectare on insecticide — 37% more than the pre-Bt levels." https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/the-twisted-trajector... Unfortunately the field isn't a lab, and making it look like a lab is very resource-intensive and environmentally damaging. "The cost of ignoring ‘desi’ varieties for decades has been high for India."