Enough Roundup Ready sugar beet seed is available to meet Canadian growers’ needs this year despite legal challenges in the United States, where the seed is grown.
“We aren’t expecting any shortfalls of seed as of now,” Alberta Sugar Beet Growers executive director Gerald Thurd said March 22.
The U.S.-based Center for Food Safety launched a lawsuit this past September that challenged the legality of U.S. Department of Agriculture permits to grow Roundup Ready sugar beet seed.
In November, a judge agreed that the permits violated rules and ordered the destruction of all sugar beet stecklings, which are young plants grown for seed.
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The order was stayed in December, which preserved the coming seed crop. Sugar beets are biennial and take two years to produce seed.
These developments raised concerns in Canada about the availability of Roundup Ready seed, but Doug Emek, general manager of Lantic Sugar, which contracts sugar beet acres, said seed will be readily available this spring.
“There’s no shortage. What’s happening in the U.S. doesn’t really affect us,” said Emek.
Roundup Ready beets have full regulatory approval in Canada. Seed became available in the 2008-09 growing season and had the fastest adoption rate of any biotech crop to date, according to Monsanto, which developed the technology.
Thurd said at least 98 percent of the sugar beets grown in Alberta last year were Roundup Ready and he expects the same response this spring.
He said Roundup Ready beets have a lower environmental impact because they require less spraying to control weeds. Yields are better than conventional varieties, so performance per acre also improves.
Weed control options are limited in sugar beets, which further encourages the use of Roundup Ready varieties.
The number of contracted sugar beet acres in Alberta will be determined in early April. Thurd said it would be in the neighbourhood of 30,000 acres.
Sugar beet seeding typically begins in April.
The beet producing area is wet, like much of the Prairies, but Thurd said it’s too soon to predict timing. A good chinook wind and warm weather could still allow growers to plant at the optimum time this spring.
