In August, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White revoked the government's approval of sugar beet seeds, ruling that the USDA had not "properly considered the potential environmental impact."
The ruling caused some concern for sugar beet producers because about 95 percent of the US sugar beet crop is genetically modified. USDA economist Daniel Colacicco, in an analysis made for the case, said that beets, "which account for about 44 percent of U.S. sugar output would lose 1.6 million short tons of production without a supply of genetically modified seeds produced by Monsanto Co." USDA's 10 year forecast from February predicted a crop of 7.649 million tons next year.
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Posted: 10/19/2010
