2-14 FB Sugar Beets Approved

 Can you believe it. The USDA just moved on Roundup Ready sugar beets.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has authorized spring planting of Genuity® Roundup Ready® sugar beets.  Last year Monsanto Company petitioned USDA to act with interim measures so farmers could continue to grow Roundup Ready sugar beets while USDA completes an Environmental Impact Statement.

Sugar beet farmers have been busy preparing for spring planting, waiting for USDA’s guidance and hoping it would come in time for spring planting. Here’s our old friend Douglas R. Jones, Executive Director, Growers for Biotechnology, himself an Idaho sugar beet farmer: “I think it’s a great decision. It’s one the sugar beet farmers really needed because here in Southern Idaho, we could be less than 30 days from planting beets.” Roundup Ready sugar beets were developed by Monsanto. Other sugar beet seed companies have Roundup Ready sugar beets seed in stock and ready for sale. 

Roundup Ready sugar beets were introduced to farmers during the 2007-2008 crop seasons. The benefits farmers across the U.S. and Canada experienced on their farms have driven the fastest adoption of any biotech crop to date. In 2010, more than 90 percent of the sugar beets grown in North America were Roundup Ready varieties.