USA: Organic farmers post legal win

Organic farmers won a long legal battle with a recent ruling against the USDA for premature deregulation of Monsanto’s genetically engineered sugar beets. Some of the additional accusants were the Center for Food Safety, Organic Seed Alliance and the Sierra Club. Tom Stearns of High Mowing Organic Seeds, a mail-order organic seed company, stated that this ruling was a success for organic farmers and for all who had hope for a healthier food system in the USA. Mr Stearns authored the Safe Seed Pledge, which is endorsed by six additional seed companies.

High Mowing is one of dozens of farms and agricultural businesses in the Vermont region that have been collaborating with each other for many years.  The region has been named as a national model for healthy food systems and praised for building economic development through value-added agriculture by various magazins and authors.

The US District Court for the northern district of California ruled that the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) violated federal law by not preparing an environmental impact statement before deregulating genetically altered sugar beets, Business Clarksville reports. In 2009, 1.1 million acres (about 445,000 hectares) were planted with GMO sugar beets and almost half of the sugar in the USA is made from beets.

Business Clarksville