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USA – GM LUCERNE BAN
High quality hay market may be most impacted by removal of RR alfalfa
6 April 2007. Source: Information Systems for Biotechnology -
www.isb.vt.edu/news/2007/news07.apr.htm#apr0703 via AgNet
The market for high quality, weed free alfalfa may be impacted by the removal of
Roundup Ready alfalfa from the marketplace
On March 12, a federal judge in San Francisco issued a court decision barring the sale and use of Roundup Ready (alfalfa tolerant to glyphosate herbicide) alfalfa after March 30. U.S. District Court Judge Charles Breyer granted the injunction at the request of a group of organic forage growers and environmental and consumer activists, who claimed Roundup Ready alfalfa could be harmful to the environment and the economy. Breyer’s ruling marked the first time a U.S. Department of Agriculture approval for a genetically modified seed product was overturned by a federal court.
An April 27 hearing will determine whether the injunction becomes permanent. Farmers who’ve already planted Roundup Ready alfalfa are not affected by the court decision, points out Larry Nees, state seed administrator for the Office of the Indiana State Chemist. "The injunction that’s been filed does not impact any continued used, harvest or sale of Roundup Ready forage," he said. "It’s important to note that the decision of this case was not focused on the safety of Roundup Ready alfalfa and Roundup Ready alfalfa seed. The district court that issued the injunction, and other regulatory agencies like the USDA, all agree that it poses no harm to humans and/or livestock. It’s just an issue of technicality as to how this was originally approved by the USDA and whether all the steps were taken to make sure that there was no impact on the organic growers and the conventional alfalfa growers in certain areas of the country."
Said Jerry Steiner, executive vice president for Monsanto, about the injuction: We are hopeful that a reasoned approach in this matter will address questions about the regulatory approval process for Roundup Ready alfalfa while maintaining farmer access to this beneficial technology. The extensive regulatory dossier for Roundup Ready alfalfa, combined with farmer stewardship agreements, provides a robust and responsible approach to managing the environmental questions raised by the plaintiffs in this case.
Monsanto, Forage Genetics International (a seed developer and subsidiary of Land O’Lakes Inc.), and several farmers were granted intervenor status in this case on March 8. Plaintiffs, defendants and intervenors can participate in oral arguments for this case on April 27.
The court has already accepted the fact that Roundup Ready alfalfa poses no harm to humans and livestock. As part of its regulatory filing for Roundup Ready alfalfa in April 2004, Monsanto provided USDA with an extensive dossier that addresses a variety of environmental, stewardship, and crop management considerations. Other regulatory agencies around the world, including Canada and Japan, have confirmed the environmental safety of Roundup Ready alfalfa.
In some parts of the country, the March 30 planting deadline does not leave enough time to plant Roundup Ready alfalfa that has been purchased. "We don’t plant alfalfa until the middle of May," said Dale Scheps, who operates a 145-cow dairy farm in Almena, Wisc. Scheps planted 35 acres of Roundup Ready alfalfa in 2006 and had already purchased enough seed to plant another 35 acres in 2007. "It’s a major setback to have this technology taken away from us," Scheps said. "It will needlessly drive up our feed costs because we will have to replace superior quality hay."
Hay & Forage Grower (hayandforage.com), the only national publication devoted exclusively to alfalfa and other forage crops, reported this spring that if Roundup Ready alfalfa is held off the market for an extended period, an already tight supply of conventional alfalfa seed could get tighter. Some growers who bought Roundup Ready alfalfa for spring planting will switch to conventional varieties, while others might turn to other crops instead.
Because Roundup Ready alfalfa was introduced just two years ago and costs more than twice as much than conventional alfalfa seed, it represents a minute share of the U.S. alfalfa market. Of the 22 million acres of alfalfa grown in the United States last year, it’s estimated that only about 200,000 acres were Roundup Ready – about 0.01 percent of the total. Thus, it is a small slice of business for technology provider Monsanto and most seed companies that sell it.
There are distinct advantages to planting Roundup Ready alfalfa. Plant scientists Kevin Bradley and Robert Kallenbach at the University of Missouri-Columbia point out that one of the clear advantages of this technology is in its broad spectrum weed control, including troublesome broadleaf weeds like curly dock, musk, bull, and Canada thistle, horsenettle, and dandelion. The application window is longer, with more effective control of many weeds than standard herbicides, and there is less risk of crop injury compared to other commercial herbicides.
Another advantage they see with the Roundup Ready technology is with spring establishment. Often, spring-established alfalfa is more difficult from a weed management standpoint. This is because many summer annual weeds emerge throughout April and May into newly seeded stands that have little to no canopy. To complicate this issue further, only a few conventional herbicide options are available for application on these newly seeded stands. However, they point out that the technology fee alone for Roundup Ready alfalfa costs about an additional $2.50 per pound of seed planted. Depending on alfalfa variety and seeding rate, this is an additional $125 per bag of alfalfa seed purchased.
Thus, Roundup Ready alfalfa is grown primarily for the segment of the hay and forage market that demands high quality, such as horses, purebred cattle breeders, and dairies.
"California has a very finicky hay market where there is almost zero tolerance for weeds," said Steve Orloff, University of California-Davis farm advisor, about the advantage of Roundup Ready alfalfa technology. UC Davis has an extensive web site on biotech alfalfa: go to http://alfalfa.ucdavis.edu click on ‘Biotech Alfalfa.’
Mark McCaslin, president of Forage Genetics International, reported at the National Alfalfa Symposium just before the release of Roundup Ready alfalfa several years ago that about 90% of the alfalfa produced in the U.S. is consumed domestically, much of it consumed on the farm where it is produced. He said over 98% of U.S. alfalfa hay/hay products exported is concentrated in five countries: Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Canada, and Mexico. Japan represents over 75% of all U.S. alfalfa hay/hay product exports, he said, and all five countries have a process for approving import of biotech crops and currently import products derived from U.S. produced biotech soybean, corn, canola and/or cotton.
About 40% of alfalfa hay in the United States is produced in the 11 western states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming. This region also supplies the vast majority of the seed for the nation’s alfalfa plantings, and it contributes significantly to exports of alfalfa hay and seed, according to a paper that outlines the importance of western alfalfa production (online at
http://cals.arizona.edu/crop/counties/yuma/farmnotes/fn1101alfalfaprod.pdf).
Alfalfa hay acreage in Montana is greater than any other western state, while production of alfalfa hay is greatest in California due to the higher yields in that state – more than 80% of California’s hay is grown in regions where 7-10 cuttings are possible.
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