Sugar beet farmers hoping for news on the fate of biotech crops received none Thursday as they wrapped up a two-day meeting in Billings.
With planting just a couple of months away, farmers had hoped to hear they'd be allowed to once again plant sugar beets genetically engineered to resist the powerful herbicide Roundup.
So-called Roundup-ready beets are used to produce roughly half the nation's sugar supply. But lawsuits alleging the government rushed to approve them have put the fate of the 2011 crop in doubt.
A federal proposal allowing the crop to be planted under tight regulations is expected, but hasn't yet materialized.
“I'm hopeful to see something before the first of February. That's not a hard deadline,” said Luther Markwart, of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association. “They're working as fast as they can and hope to have something soon.”
Markwart told sugar beet farmers gathered in Billings that he had little news to share about whether biotech beets will be allowed in just a few months when it's time to plant.
Normally, farmers would have spent November and December lining up seeds and herbicide for next year, but without knowing if Roundup-ready beets are allowed, they're stuck. Roundup will kill nonbiotech beets. An alternative herbicide would be an expensive waste of time if Roundup-ready beets were allowed.
However, opponents of the modified beets say farmers have had time to avoid the dilemma. The legal battle over biotech beets has been going on for several years. And a federal judge thus far has sided with opponents who argue that biotech beets should be shelved until a thorough environmental impact statement can be done.
“The federal court presiding over this litigation for three years has ruled for us in each and every turn, and they've known there was a possibility they would have to return to conventional sugar beets,” said George Kimbrell, attorney for the Center for Food Safety. “Planning to plant a crop that is illegal, I don't know if that's good planning.”
At issue is whether the genetically altered beets can corrupt natural varieties of beets and Swiss chard through cross pollination. The nation's seed supply for both types of plants, biotech and natural, is based in Oregon's Willamette Valley.
Organic seed producers there fear that once cross pollination takes place, farmers will have nothing but genetically modified seeds and consumers will have no choice but to eat crops with genetically modified origins. Several opponents are involved in the lawsuit, but the Center for Food Safety leads the legal battle.
The center argued last year that biotech crops should be banned. But Judge Jeffrey White denied the move, stating that forbidding biotech crops put too big of a burden on farmers, many of whom had already planted their 2010 crop before his ruling was issued.
Late last year, however, White took a harder line, ordering that biotech beets planted for seed be destroyed.
Opponents of the biotech beets have said they will sue the U.S. Department of Agriculture if the special planting rules expected to be released soon aren't acceptable. Kimbrell said the center would like to see the plantings put on hold until an environmental impact statement is completed, long after the 2011 sugar beet harvest ends. The environmental study shouldn't be rushed for business reasons, he said.
© Copyright 2011, The Billings Gazette, Billings, MT
