Sugar Beet Decision
Spring’s almost sprung and fields in Idaho are being prepared in anticipation of planting. But there may be a problem for one of Idaho’s biggest and most profitable crops…sugar beets. I’m David Sparks and I’ll detail the problem in a minute. Roundup Ready sugar beets from the Monsanto Corporation are almost a standard in the sugar beet industry. However, Roundup Ready sugar beets have been genetically modified and of course there has been a reaction from the environmentalists to the extent that U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White ruled last September that the U.S. Department of Agriculture must complete a full environmental impact statement for the genetically modified crop, a process that could take several years. But producers making their living by raising sugar beets can’t just sit around and twiddle their thumbs for the next few years and have asked the judge to let them go ahead and plant. Recently the judge heard from both sides and the anti-planting side otherwise known as the plaintiffs have asked for an emergency injunction that would stop the planting of Roundup Ready beet seed until at least June. Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association Executive Director Mark Duffin apparently has to be pretty cautious and tight lipped over the issue: “It’s hard to speculate, actually we’re not supposed to speculate. The seed companies are the only ones with the information, I can’t speculate on that and we haven’t searched for the answer cause they don’t want us to know.”
