Area sugar beet growers are allowed to plant Roundup Ready sugar beet seed this year.

On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White denied a request for a preliminary injunction against using the seed.

White commented that it would put too big of a burden on sugar beet growers if they were denied using the seed this spring. “If this court were to ban the planting and processing of the genetically engineered sugar beet root crop, there would not be enough conventional seed for a full crop this year,” White’s order said. The Sugar Industry Biotech Council released the following statement about the decision, “We are pleased that the court denied the request and recognized the significant negative impact that an immediate ban on planting would have caused to growers, processors, rural communities and the U.S. sugar supply. This decision allows sugar beet growers to proceed with planting this year’s crop. We look forward to the next phase of the court proceedings where we can present evidence about potential choices for our growers and processors.”

Don Steinbeisser Jr., president of the MonDak Beet Growers Association, said, “I’m happy about the way it turned out for this spring. Hopefully, things will go OK also in July.”

The judge, however, said his ruling on this preliminary injunction shouldn’t be seen as an indicator on how he might rule once the issue is heard.

In January, an injunction was filed in federal court to ban Roundup Ready crops from being planted or processed.

Filing the injunction in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California were the Organic Seed Alliance, Earthjustice, Center for Food Safety, High Mowing Organic Seeds and the Sierra Club.

The groups feel the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved Roundup Ready sugar beets without properly determining their impacts both from an environmental and socioeconomic basis. Opponents of Roundup Ready fear the chance of genetic contamination of organic and conventional crops, increased weed resistance from herbicides and less choice for consumers.

Luther Markwart, executive vice president of the American Sugar Alliance, said in January that the injunction filed came five years after the deregulation of Roundup Ready and two years after the lawsuit began.

“Now they try to clam irreparable harm is immediate from a product that has been used widely on 95 percent of the sugar beet acreage,” Markwart said.

He noted that such an injunction would shut down half of America’s sugar supply. It would cause great financial harm to sugar beet growers and seed companies.

“We feel it’s not justified by any evidence of any real threat,” Markwart said. “We view this as an unreasonable request because there’s no potential threat.”

editor@sidneyherald.com