A judge refused to immediately ban planting of sugar beets engineered to be resistant to Monsanto Co.’s herbicide Roundup, warning growers that he may later block planting, pending an environmental review.
U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in San Francisco ruled Tuesday in a lawsuit brought by organic farmers and a food-safety group. He told growers that he “is inclined to order” that they “take all efforts, going forward, to use conventional seed.”
A hearing on whether planting should be barred while the USDA studies the environmental impact of the “Roundup Ready” sugar-beet seeds is scheduled for July 9. The study could take a few years.
White said that banning spring planting of the genetically engineered crop would lead 14 U.S. sugar-beet plants to shut because there’s a shortage of conventional seed. Sugar beets, grown on 1.3 million acres in 10 states, including 39,700 acres in Colorado, provide half the nation’s sugar supply.
