Editorial

Sugar beet growers in the Northwest and California are breathing a little easier now that U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White has refused to issue a temporary injunction banning planting of genetically modified seeds this season.

A little easier for this season, at least.

In 2008, the Center for Food Safety, the Organic Seed Alliance, the Sierra Club and High Mowing Organic Seeds filed suit against the USDA, claiming the agency failed to produce a required environmental impact statement when it deregulated Monsanto's Roundup Ready beet seeds. In September, White agreed and ordered the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to complete the study, and set a hearing to determine permanent steps to remedy the USDA's failure.

Noting that the 2010 beet crop would already be in the ground by then, the plaintiffs filed for a temporary injunction that not only would have banned the planting of this year's crop, but would have prohibited the processing of any beets produced from Roundup Ready seeds and the sale of any sugar processed from that seed.

In ruling on the petition, White was allowed to weigh the economic impact of the plaintiffs' motion against their concern that the planted seeds could contaminate conventional and organic plants. Given the plaintiffs' delay in filing their request and it being too late to make other planting decisions, he found those consequences to be onerous.

"If this court were to ban the planting and processing of the genetically engineered sugar beet root crop, there would not be enough conventional seed for a full crop this year," White said in his order denying the injunction. "The economic impact of such a shortage would be dramatic and widespread."

We concur with White. Sugar beets account for around 50 percent of the domestic sugar supply in the United States, and around 95 percent of those beets were produced with Roundup Ready seed stock last season. Banning planting and processing of this year's crop would throw thousands of people out of work in the sugar industry and leave thousands of people who depend on those pay checks to churn through the economies of rural communities in 11 states. A ban would have been absolutely devastating to the nearly 10,000 farmers who grow the beets.

The prospect of throwing thousands out of work during the worst recession since the 1930s, and at the same time expanding the market for foreign growers and processors, would be daunting even for a federal judge who enjoys lifetime tenure.

It's unlikely White would refuse to ban the spring planting of the crop only to later ban its harvest and processing in the fall. That doesn't mean that he won't ban plantings of Roundup Ready stock in 2011. When another judge found USDA failed to complete an EIS on Roundup Ready alfalfa, he let existing crops stay in the field while banning future plantings until USDA completed its study.

In his ruling March 16, White made it clear that growers should not expect to maintain the status quo next year. Per White's ruling in September, plaintiffs have already won on the merits, proving to the judge that the USDA failed in its duty, and proving the potential harm to other crops. The absence of an imminent growing season, White said, would help alleviate any harm to growers and processors from an injunction.

"Thus, the balance of the equities may likely shift when the Court considers whether to issue permanent injunction," he said.

Growers and processors have a year to line up conventional seed, or a replacement crop. They should make wise use of the time.