By DAVE WILKINS
Capital Press

TWIN FALLS, Idaho — Sugar beet growers are already planting genetically modified seed even though a federal judge is expect to rule any day on an injunction that could bar further planting and use of the crop.

Some beets have already been planted in the Amalgamated Sugar Company's growing area, said Duane Grant, chairman of the Snake River Sugar Co., the growers' cooperative that controls the company.

"There are some growers planting now in Amalgamated's territory," Grant said March 10.

Amalgamated has growers in Idaho, Eastern Oregon and Eastern Washington.

Grant, who farms near Rupert, Idaho, said beet growers will continue their work "as normal," barring any court ruling that forces them to stop.

He declined to speculate about what will happen if the court does grant an injunction.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White is expected to rule at anytime on a preliminary injunction request filed by the Center for Food Safety. The organization is seeking a ban on the planting of Roundup Ready sugar beet seed.

Grant said he had no idea when the judge would make his ruling.

"The judge will make his ruling on his calendar," he said. "We will defer to his timetable."

Growers are expected to plant mostly Roundup Ready beet seed again this year, barring an injunction. About 95 percent of the U.S. sugar beet crop was planted to the biotech varieties in 2009.

Luther Markwart, executive vice president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association, also declined to speculate about what would happen if the judge grants an injunction.

The industry is in a "holding pattern," waiting for the judge to rule, he said March 10.

Industry attorneys have argued in court documents that an injunction would have a devastating effect on growers across the country.

"Very little conventional non-Roundup Ready sugar beet (seed) is available for 2010 or 2011 root crops," industry attorneys said in court documents filed in February.

Some growers have already ordered and paid for Roundup Ready seed.

A ban on biotech seed now would cause more than $1.4 billion in "largely permanent damage," to growers across the country, industry attorneys said in court documents.

Many growers wouldn't be able to get conventional non-Roundup Ready seed this year even if they wanted to, attorneys for the industry said.

Those who could find conventional seed supplies would be forced to find conventional herbicides that would likely be in short supply.

"If I could not plant Roundup Ready sugarbeet seed in 2010, I would most likely be unable to purchase any conventional herbicide," Grant said in court documents filed in February.

Grant said a DuPont representatives told him in 2007 that the company wouldn't inventory or manufacture any conventional herbicides because they believed sugar beet farmers would choose to plant Roundup Ready seeds and wouldn't need the company's conventional herbicides.