Attorneys warn of beet seed shortages, 'billions of dollars in damages'

By DAVE WILKINS
Capital Press

The U.S. sugar beet industry could suffer billions of dollars in losses if Roundup Ready varieties are banned next year, according to attorneys representing growers and processors.

"At this point, a halt on planting Roundup Ready sugar beet seed for the 2010 root crop in 10 states would create severe seed shortages in many areas of the country and pose other very significant problems potentially resulting in billions of dollars in damages to thousands of sugar beet farmers, to cooperatives and processors and to communities across the country... " attorneys Gilbert S. Keteltas, John F. Bruce, Christopher H. Marroro of Washington, D.C., and Joanne Lichtman of Los Angeles, said in court documents filed Wednesday, Nov. 25, in federal court in San Francisco.

The attorneys represent the American Sugarbeet Growers Association, U.S. Beet Sugar Association, American Crystal Sugar Co., The Amalgamated Sugar Co., Western Sugar Cooperative, Wyoming Sugar Co. and individual leaders of four growers' co-ops, all of whom are intervenors in the case.

Also involved are attorneys representing Monsanto, Syngenta Seeds and Betaseed Inc., which have also intervened in the case.

Federal district Judge Jeffrey S. White ruled in September that USDA unlawfully allowed the commercial release of Roundup Ready sugar beets in 2005 by its failure to adequately consider the potential environmental impacts.

The ruling was based on a lawsuit filed by the Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice in January 2008.

The case is now in the remedy phase. A hearing is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 4, in federal court in San Francisco, in which industry attorneys are expected to ask the judge to allow an evidentiary hearing, one with witnesses. The court will also hear a motion to intervene from a third seed company, SESVanderHave USA Inc.

According to recent court documents outlining anticipated future proceedings, the plaintiffs said they plan to seek an injunction banning all planting of Roundup Ready sugar beets -- both seed and commercial root crop -- until the USDA completes an environmental impact statement.

Industry attorneys will ask the court to deny the injunction, and failing that, will argue that any remedy should be narrowly tailored to address the cross-pollination seed issue in the Willamette Valley of Oregon that was at the heart of the recent court decision.

"Any remedy ... should be limited to those issues related to the Roundup Ready sugar beet fields in the Willamette Valley and should not be enlarged to cover sugar beet production crops grown in other states," industry attorneys said.

Sugar beet seed is grown primarily in Oregon's Willamette Valley. The commercial root crop is grown in 10 Western and Midwestern states, including Minnesota, North Dakota, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and California.

Sugar beet farmers have vowed to fight for the right to keep growing Roundup Ready beets.

One of the industry's main arguments for continued use of Roundup Ready varieties is the high adoption rate. An estimated 95 percent of the U.S. sugar beet crop was planted to Roundup Ready varieties this year.

Some in the industry have estimated that there may be enough conventional beet seed in storage to cover most of the U.S. acreage next year if Roundup Ready varieties are banned.

But those conventional seed supplies are not all the same, industry officials have cautioned.

The conventional seed is bred for resistance to specific diseases that are more of a problem in some areas than others. They're not all suitable for all growing areas, so shortages could occur, industry officials said.