When federal regulators gave farmers the green light to plant genetically modified alfalfa, some growers of the nation's fourth-largest crop celebrated. But others — even those supportive of the technology — responded to the news with mixed feelings.
Over the past five years, the widespread planting of genetically modified alfalfa, developed by Creve Coeur-based Monsanto, has been held up by a protracted court battle that made its way last year to the U.S. Supreme Court — the first case involving genetically engineered plants to land there.
But after the costly court battle, both sides concede that the government's decision last month to allow genetically modified alfalfa on American farmland may not deliver a financial blockbuster.
"Where does this go in the long term?" asked Steve Welker, who heads up Monsanto's alfalfa business. "That's a really good question."
The debate over alfalfa — the nation's fourth-largest crop after corn, soybeans and wheat — has simmered between predictable factions. On one side, Monsanto, the world's largest seed company, along with the hay, or forage, industry, which, for the most part, wants the technology in its farming arsenal; on the other, conventional and organic growers worried about genetically modified crops' cross-pollinating and contaminating their own.
Monsanto and Forage Genetics International, the Minnesota-based company to which Monsanto licenses the technology, have acknowledged those concerns. Farmers in California's Imperial Valley, the nation's most productive alfalfa growing region, asked Monsanto to keep its genetically modified alfalfa out of the region for fear of losing access to export markets that don't allow modified crops, and the company agreed.
"They asked us to impose a restriction, and we've done that," said Forage International president Mark McCaslin. "That's a contractual obligation that's part of Monsanto's grower agreement."
USAGE IN DOUBT
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, alfalfa is grown on roughly 20 million acres and has a value of about $9 billion a year. Most of the alfalfa goes to dairy cows or export markets.
In 2005, the department allowed unrestricted planting of the modified alfalfa, which is engineered to withstand the herbicide marketed by Monsanto as Roundup. Roundup, generically known as glyphosate, kills weeds but not the modified crops.
American farmers have widely employed the Roundup system for corn, soybeans and cotton, crediting the technology with boosting farm incomes and making Monsanto the dominant force in the business. But, farmers and agriculture experts say, the same wholesale embrace of the system for alfalfa is not as certain.
Only about 7 percent of alfalfa growers use a herbicide to control weeds, according to the Agriculture Department, whereas most corn and soybean growers applied herbicide prior to adopting the Roundup system. That could mean fewer farmers are likely to make the switch.
"There's some awfully good alfalfa varieties out there that … have great yield potential and bred-in resistance," said Darrel Franson, vice president of the Missouri Forage and Grassland Council. "There's some awfully good seed stock already out there."
Cost could prove a factor: The Roundup Ready alfalfa seeds are roughly twice the cost of conventional seeds.
"You hear mixed opinions," said Nolan Kleinboecker, who grows alfalfa in Lawrence County. "The extra price for the Roundup Ready seeds could scare some of them off."
Mariann Holm runs an organic dairy in Elk Mound, Wis., and is worried that genetically modified alfalfa could cross-pollinate the organic alfalfa she grows to feed to her cows.
"Is there really a market for this product?" Holm asked. "Right now alfalfa is grown without herbicide. It's not like there's a need for this."
The Agriculture Department's analysis suggests that 50 percent of alfalfa growers could switch to genetically modified seeds. Some say that's optimistic.
"I think that's a substantial overstatement of what's likely," said Charles Benbrook of the Washington-based Organic Center, which advocates for organic-friendly policies. "I'd say 20 percent is more realistic, and that would make a threefold increase of alfalfa treated with herbicide."
LEGAL BATTLE
After the Agriculture Department's approval in 2005 of Roundup Ready alfalfa, a group of alfalfa growers led by the Washington-based Center for Food Safety, an organization opposed to biotech crops, challenged the department's ruling, saying it had not performed the required environmental assessments. A federal circuit court judge agreed and banned the further planting of Roundup Ready alfalfa.
Ultimately, Monsanto and Forage Genetics took the case to the Supreme Court, which lifted the ban last year. The court said, however, that the department would have to complete an environmental impact statement.
That statement was completed in December, and last month the Agriculture Department announced it would "deregulate" modified alfalfa, meaning farmers can grow it without any government-imposed restrictions.
While opponents of the decision say modified alfalfa may not prove to be hugely popular with farmers, the announcement came as a blow to the Center for Food Safety, which has said it plans to take the matter back to court.
The impact statement, critics point out, cites evidence of cross-contamination, and seed scientists have since said more contamination is inevitable. Alfalfa is a perennial — it grows back every year — and farmers can't control when it blooms. It is also pollinated by bees, whose trajectories and flights aren't containable.
"That makes alfalfa dangerous," said Bill Freese, a science policy analyst for the center.
Dairy farmers, who rely in part on alfalfa to get their animals through winter, could eventually see a drop in hay prices that will help their bottom lines. But organic producers — who have to prove the hay they feed their animals comes from organic-certified growers — could see prices go up if organic hay becomes scarce, they say. Many grow their own organic alfalfa.
"I'd have the cost of testing the field for contamination. … I'd have the cost of replanting the field," said Loretta Jaus, an organic dairy farmer from Gibbon, Minn. "Then there's the issue of [organic] certification. If we lose that, we could lose 50 percent of our income."
The alfalfa industry, however, points to a strict management plan and its own best practices that will, it says, control contamination. These practices, which include placing fields at strategic distances, are designed to keep contamination to 0.5 percent — a percentage both the industry and critics say is acceptable, but may not be for some export markets.
"There are stewardship requirements, and Monsanto fully supports those," Welker said.
Many alfalfa farmers, including those who were among the 1 percent of growers who planted Roundup Ready alfalfa before the ban, say they're anxious to plant more.
"I think it's a pretty good deal," Kleinboecker said. "I know there's a lot of uproar about it, but it depends what side of the fence you're on."
Monsanto is hoping more farmers feel the way Kleinboecker does.
"Organic and conventional and biotech crops have coexisted for years now," Welker said. "There's no reason to think this can't happen with alfalfa."
The next few spring planting seasons will give the company a sense of just how strong the market might be. But in the meantime, the cows who survive each winter on hay may have the last moo.
"Cows don't really like alfalfa," said Kerry Buchmayer, an organic dairy farmer from Purdin, Mo. "If you have a bale of clover hay, a bale of grass hay and an alfalfa bale, they'll eat the clover bale, then the grass bale, then they'll go hungry a day before eating the alfalfa. I've seen it."
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