Organic farmers seek to bar genetically modified beets, source of about half of US sugar crop

Suit seeks to bar genetically modified sugar beets

PHILOMATH, Ore. — Organic farmers fear this year’s spring breezes will carry pollen from genetically altered sugar beets, which they say could render their crops worthless.

So they’re hoping to persuade a federal judge in San Francisco to halt the plantings nationwide.

Industry groups say such an injunction could jeopardize U.S. sugar supplies, about half of which comes from the biotech beets.

The beets are engineered to be resistant to Monsanto’s popular herbicide Roundup and comprise 95 percent of the crop after two seasons of planting.

If the requested injunction is granted at a hearing scheduled for Friday, it would halt planting of the altered beets until the U.S. Department of Agriculture does an environmental impact statement. That could take two or three years.