U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey White has set aside three days this week for evidence to be presented by environmental groups hoping to halt the production of genetically engineered sugar beet seeds and by USDA, which is seeking to protect the crop.
Lawyers for both sides will be presenting both evidence and new witnesses during the hearings that are scheduled for Nov. 2, 3 and 4. Currently, plaintiffs appear to have an edge, though, because White said they "have sufficiently demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits" of their argument.
USDA approved genetically engineered modified sugar beets about five years ago and they now account for 95 percent of the U.S. crop. White invalidated that approval in an August ruling, throwing into doubt the ability of many farmers to plant in 2011 and the ability of seed companies to produce seeds for 2012. It takes about two years to produce sugar beet seeds.
Sugar from sugar beets will account for about 60 percent of domestic U.S. production this year. If farmers can't plant genetically engineered seeds next spring, U.S. sugar production will be cut by about 20 percent , according to an estimate USDA supplied to White, who sits on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
USDA also estimates that if farmers were reduced to planting only limited supplies of non-biotech sugar beet seeds in 2011, the price of refined sugar in the United States would jump and U.S. consumers would be forced to pay an additional $1.6 billion for the sugar they buy in 2012.
