Possible Roundup Ready Ban

 Lost crops, lost jobs, lost farm equipment sales and lost tax revenue…exactly what we’re looking for in ag as we enter 2010 and a tough economy. In a case brought by Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice , a federal judge from California made a decision in September of 2009 saying the USDA has not properly evaluated the impact of Monsanto’s Roundup Ready sugar beets on the environment. The court ordered the USDA to conduct a rigorous assessment of the environmental and economic impacts of the crop on farmers and the environment. 

 Sugar beet growers in Idaho could be denied the right to plant Roundup Ready sugar beets this spring if an injunction is filed. Here’s the rigorous assessment of the economic impact on farmers for you. University of Idaho economists found in a 2004 study -- $721 million in gross sales, $163 million in value-added, 3,414 jobs, $111 million in earnings and $12 million in indirect business taxes would be lost without the sugar beet industry 95% of which is grown with Roundup Ready beets. I asked Marked Duffin of the Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association to comment: “Wouldn’t be comfortable commenting on that. You know how attorneys are, they get real nervous about any public statements when they’re going through discovery.”

 Welcome to the new world order of 2010.