With these two geographic restrictions in place, the CA District Court could permit the continued planting of RR sugar beet in root production areas outside California. There is negligible likelihood of irreparable harm in the sugar bowl states of the U.S. (Figure 1). Sugar beet is harvested in the first year and flowering is minimal. This is not like RR alfalfa hay production where the plant routinely flowers in the first year if the hay is not harvested on time. Root production areas are distant from seed production in the Willamette Valley, OR, and wild beet species are limited to California and New Jersey.
The objective of this digestibility assessment was to determine whether there are significant differences in the digestibility of Roundup Ready (glyphosate-tolerant) and conventional sugar beet, fodder beet, and beet pulp produced from sugar beet varieties when fed to sheep (seven wethers per treatment group). Three experiments were conducted in this assessment. Experiment 1 (35 wethers) compared one glyphosate-tolerant fodder beet variety with four conventional varieties, Exp. 2 (42 wethers) compared one glyphosate-tolerant sugar beet variety with five conventional varieties, and Exp. 3 (42 wethers) compared beet pulp derived from glyphosate-tolerant sugar beet with beet pulp from five European locations. The experimental phase consisted of a 2-wk preliminary period followed by a 1-wk collection period for Exp. 1 and 2, and a 1-wk preliminary period followed by a 1-wk digestibility collection period for Exp. 3. Diets were comprised of grass hay at 30, 30, and 20% of DM for Exp. 1, 2, and 3, respectively, with the balance being beet components. Urea and sodium sulfate were supplemented (8 and 2.9 g, respectively, for Exp. 1 and 2; and 6 g and 2.16 g, respectively, for Exp. 3) to supply sufficient dietary N and S. Each diet was fed to sheep (96 +/- 0.9 kg) in the three experiments to at or near maintenance energy levels. Treatment differences were considered significant at P After a long wait, Michigan sugar beet growers will be growing Roundup Readysugar beets for the first time this year. For most of us, the use ofglyphosate (Roundup) in Roundup Ready sugar beets should make weedcontrol simpler and more consistent. However, as with any change inproduction practices there will be a learning curve to using thistechnology. Additionally, there will be other challenges because mostgrowers will also still have conventional sugar beets acres for whichtimely weed control will be important.
Roundup Ready sugar beets will be an excellent weed control asset toMichigan sugar beet growers. But as we make this transition, keepseveral of these precautions in mind. It will also be important forgrowers to be good stewards of the Roundup Ready technology, so itsbenefits will be sustainable in the future.
On Feb. 4, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service decided to approve a partial deregulation of Roundup Ready seed for this year's commercial root crop. To bolster this, and provide certainty for the 2011 crop, on Feb. 7, sugar companies and groups asked a judge in the District of Columbia to confirm that the APHIS decision complies with the National Environmental Protection Act. Immediately, opponent plaintiffs in cases against Roundup Ready beets filed a temporary restraining order.
There's massive uncertainty out there about what the final outcome will be," he says. "We're finding that regardless of what any single judge might say, it seems as though you face an appeal. We'd like to get sugar beets planted here in a decent time."
Another issue for the future, Khan says, will be the fate of research that has been aimed at fighting rhizomania and leaf spot in sugar beets, which recently has been initiated in transgenic varieties.
Wheat prices have been strong, and U.S. Department of Agriculture research seems to show that wheat is the best rotation option just before beets, Anderson says. Soybeans, on the other hand, make the nitrogen harder to manage, and often produce too much nitrogen than sugar beets need.
The planting of Roundup Ready beets across the United States will also have the potential to accelerate environmental impacts from increased toxic herbicides. Roundup Ready crops like corn, soy, alfalfa and sugar beets are designed to withstand repeated dousing with Roundup, which contains the active weed-killing ingredient glyphosate. This leads to overuse of the herbicide, which in turn has already caused Roundup-resistant weeds to develop on millions of acres of farmland. To battle this resistance, farmers often turn to older and more hazardous herbicides like 2,4-D, an active ingredient in Agent Orange.
Monsanto has not commented on exactly what that means, but has noted the rulings deal with process, not the safety of GM sugar beets nor their benefits. The company says growers have embraced Roundup Ready sugar beets because alternatives are less productive and require more pesticides.
On Friday, February 4, USDA announced the partial deregulation of genetically engineered (GE) sugar beets, allowing widespread planting to go forward. The decision follows on the heels of the recent decision to deregulate GE alfalfa despite earlier indications from USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack that safety conditions would be placed on the release.
GE sugar beets were developed by Monsanto Co. to withstand spraying of its Roundup Ready herbicide. USDA maintains that under certain conditions the GE sugar beets can be grown without risk to the environment.
USDA originally deregulated GE sugar beets in 2005 and the product quickly became the dominant form of US production. In 2009, a U.S. District court judge ruled USDA violated environmental law by failing to conduct a full environmental impact statement, and in 2010 the same judge returned the sugar beets to regulated status.
Luther Markwart, executive vice president of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association, the industry trade group, claims that in most farming areas, contamination would not be an issue because sugar beets are harvested before they go to seed.
Because many farmers are part of cooperatives that grow sugar beets on contract for companies that supply seed, Winn says individual farmers have little choice on whether to plant Roundup Ready sugar beets.
Could a federal judge in San Francisco who has already found the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) lacking when it comes to making sure genetically modified sugar beets are safe end up blocking planting of Roundup Ready sugar beets this spring?
The parties, who have until Feb. 4 to hold a settlement conference on their own, are scheduled for a hearing on June 11th, well after most Roundup Ready sugar beets will be in the ground in the western and upper Midwestern states that grow them.
The collection of plaintiffs are hoping that discovery information the court expects to receive in March will convince Judge Jeffery White to halt planting of the next crop of GM sugar beets, expected to begin in April.
It was Judge White, appointed to the federal bench by former President George W. Bush, who last September ordered USDA to complete an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on the safety of Roundup Ready sugar beets.
USDA deregulated Roundup Ready sugar beets in 2006, and the plaintiff groups filed their lawsuit in January 2008. The case was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Since the EIS decision, both sides have been shoring up their evidence and gathering evidence.
Beets are among the most labor-intensive of crops and Roundup Ready sugar beets dramatically reduce the need for weeding and fuel, as well as water, said Luther Markwart, executive vice president of the American Sugar Beet Growers Association.
It is not clear to me if any of the people who have commented here are close to the soil or understand the difference between USDA certified Organic and true sustainable practices in harmony with Nature which was simply known as organic farming prior to the federal government commandeering the word organic.
Find a thorough, documented analysis of the subject of the original article at the following link:
-02-29-13-11-25/roundup-ready-crops/565-roundup-ready-crops
Sugarbeets are grown mainly in cooler climates, such as the Northern United States, countries in the European Union and Russia. The plant grows a bushy, leaf structure above the ground and is grown in rows. The root of the plant provides the sugar, which has about 15 percent sugar content. At harvest, the roots are dug up and sent to a processor for refining of the sugar. Other parts of the plant can be used to feed to livestock.
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