University of Wyoming researchers say ban on genetically-engineered alfalfa could hurt Wyoming production
SeedQuest
Laramie, Wyoming
May 1, 2007
Excerpt...
A court decision temporarily halting the planting of genetically-engineered alfalfa could hurt Wyoming production, according to researchers in the University of Wyoming's College of Agriculture.
"We're a top state in producing the Roundup Ready seed for companies, and this could impact our alfalfa seed growers," says Stephen D. Miller, associate dean in the College of Agriculture and director of the Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station. Miller and colleagues Andrew Kniss, Craig Alford and Robert Wilson have performed research on Roundup Ready alfalfa.
Robin Groose, an associate professor in UW's Department of Plant Sciences, agrees with Miller the decision could affect Wyoming production.
"It's unclear what the effect of the judge's ruling would be at this point, but alfalfa is our most important crop," Groose says.
Wyoming, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA, produced 1.5 million tons of alfalfa for forage in 2005, grown on approximately 600,000 acres. It also produced 3.47 million pounds of alfalfa seed from 5,600 acres. The value of the 2005 alfalfa crop was nearly $113 million.
Comments by Miller and Groose are in response to a preliminary injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer of San Francisco, whose ruling stemmed from a lawsuit against the USDA.
Farmers who already had purchased the herbicide-resistant alfalfa seed must have planted it by March 30. No new sales of Roundup Ready alfalfa seed will be allowed until the case is resolved, according to the judge's preliminary injunction.
The seed, produced by St. Louis, Mo.-based Monsanto Co. and Forage Genetics International of Nampa, Idaho, is resistant to herbicides including Roundup weed killer manufactured by Monsanto. Groose says genetically produced seed would help in weed control.
"From an economic standpoint, Roundup Ready seed would benefit the growers who would want to use it," he says….
Full article at SeedQuest.
