Editorial

We have to tip our hat to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Last week APHIS announced that it plans to have rules regulating the use of Roundup Ready sugar beet seeds by December, and will be issuing permits within two weeks that will allow planting of a seed crop this fall in Oregon's Willamette Valley.

That's good news for growers.

Unregulated production of Monsanto's Roundup Ready sugar beets was banned last month by a federal judge as a result of a lawsuit filed by environmentalists and organic growers. Roundup Ready varieties account for more than 95 percent of the national sugar beet crop, which in turn accounts for about 50 percent of the domestic sugar supply. It isn't clear how much conventional seed is available.

During the course of that case, APHIS said it could take nine months to formulate interim rules governing use of the crop as it works to finish an environmental impact statement the court said was required as part of the process to fully deregulate Roundup Ready sugar beets.

Under that timetable, the rules would have come after rootstock growers in Idaho and the Midwest normally begin planting their crop, and six months after seed growers put their crop in the ground. If APHIS is able to meet its new deadline, growers should have time to plan next spring's planting and the 2011 seed crop.

APHIS said its partial deregulation will follow restrictions it had proposed to the court earlier this year. Those restrictions included:

* Prohibiting use of the seeds in California -- where sugar beets are no longer a significant commodity -- and in 19 counties in Washington west of the Cascades.

* Establishing 4-mile buffer zones in Oregon's Willamette Valley between fields where the biotech seeds are produced and crops that could be cross-pollinated, including Swiss chard, sugar beets, table beets and fodder beets.

* Requiring growers to provide GPS coordinates of Roundup Ready beet fields to APHIS. The agency said it would disclose only the fields' distances from potential cross-pollinating crops, and only to growers who request the information.

* Detailed restrictions on how seed producers can handle biotech seeds, with a third party certifying compliance.

* Requirements that all root-crop growers remove flowering plants before they produce pollen or seed.

APHIS also said it is issuing permits to seed producers to continue cultivation.

Sugar beet growers still face challenges. Earthjustice, one of the plaintiffs that challenged USDA's original deregulation of Roundup Ready sugar beets, said last week it was considering another lawsuit to block APHIS from issuing permits to seed growers. Plaintiffs have also said they would likely challenge interim rules once they are issued.

We still suggest growers carefully weigh their options for next year's crop. But if APHIS issues the short-term rules on its new schedule, growers will have more options than may have otherwise been the case.