Judge orders detailed studies on effects
of Roundup Ready varieties

By DAVE WILKINS

Capital Press

Commercial sugar beet growers aren't going to give up Roundup Ready varieties without a fight, industry officials said after a federal judge overturned the USDA's approval of the genetically modified crop.

"Our growers will vigorously defend their desire and their right to plant Roundup Ready beets," said Luther Markwart, executive vice president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association. "We will fight vigorously to do that."

On Monday, Sept. 21, a federal judge ordered regulators to conduct detailed scientific studies to determine the effect of Roundup Ready beets on the environment, a move that could preclude farmers from planting the crop next year.

About 95 percent of the 1.16 million acres of sugar beets planted this year in the United States were Roundup Ready, industry officials said.

"You now have an industry that for the most part is fully transitioned to the new technology," Markwart said.

Seed growers in Oregon's Willamette Valley, where most of the country's beet seed is produced, also have a stake in the trial. Upwards of 3,000 acres of Roundup Ready beet seed due for harvest next August is already in the ground, according to industry estimates.

The judge did not address the harvest of the current crop.

But the organic farmers, food safety advocates and conservation groups that brought the lawsuit will ask the judge Oct. 30 for an injunction banning new plantings until the re-examination is done, said Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff.

It isn't known whether there would even be enough conventional beet seed available to plant a full crop next year if Roundup Ready varieties are banned.

The genetically modified beets were developed to tolerate Roundup, a broad-spectrum glyphosate herbicide made by Monsanto.

A few Idaho growers began growing Roundup Ready beets in demonstration plots in 2006. Seed was made commercially available for the first time in 2008 and quickly caught on across the country.

Farmers who grow Roundup Ready beets say they produce higher yields and require fewer overall herbicide applications than conventional beets.

"It's more environmentally friendly," Markwart said. "You're using less greenhouse gases because you're not running that tractor over the field as much."

Environmental groups that sued the USDA in 2008 take a different view.

They said the agency failed to adequately assess the environmental, health and associated economic impacts before allowing the crop to be grown commercially.

Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety, said the court's decision is a victory for those seeking to thwart "biological pollution" from genetically modified sugar beets.

"The courts have made it clear that USDA's job is to protect American farmers and consumers, not the interests of Monsanto," Kimbrell said in a press release.

Some farmers fear that Roundup Ready beets could cross-pollinate with related crops such as organic chard and table beets, leading to significant economic losses.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.