Roundup Still Frozen
by James D. Ritchie

After a brief de-regulation and successful plantings, Roundup Ready alfalfa was returned to a regulatory standstill. The product remains on hold. 

It’s an exciting but short-lived (so far) forage innovation. In 2005, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service de-regulated Roundup Ready alfalfa and the response by growers was immediate and enthusiastic.

Less than two years later, a federal district court judge slapped an injunction on any new seedings of RR alfalfa, until APHIS completes a thorough-going environmental impact assessment of the genetically modified crop.

“The acceptance of Roundup Ready alfalfa has been great,” said Jeremy Hayward, MFA area sales manager and a certified crop advisor. “We have a lot of growers who have seeded it, and many of them want to plant more as soon as they can.”

As with most new technology, early RR alfalfa plantings were made by those “innovators” on the cutting edge, added Hayward. “A lot of other farmers have watched how the crop performed for those innovators, and many of them were ready to plant the crop when the injunction halted things.”

Quick Facts • Roundup Ready alfalfa hit the market in 2005, immediately filling a niche for growers. • A federal court put up an injunction on new seedings in 2007 as environmental impact is reconisdered. • Like other Roundup Ready crops, growers favor glyphosate-tolerant alfalfa for ease of management.

Economically, alfalfa is the third-ranking crop in the United States, occupying more than 22 million acres. Early growers of RR alfalfa see glyphosate resistance as a useful management tool, and not just for weed control.

Easy to manage
One of those innovators Hayward mentioned is Gene Staiger, dairyman in Christian County, Mo.

“We seeded Roundup Ready alfalfa as soon as it was de-regulated,” said Staiger. “We now have 70 acres and had additional fields ready to plant when the injunction took effect.

“It’s going to be the best thing to come along in dairy forages,” he added. “I’ve experimented some in the two-plus years we’ve grown Roundup Ready alfalfa. For example, we can spray in mid-March with Roundup and an insecticide. That gets late winter weeds and also controls early alfalfa weevil. When our timing is right, we can get by with only one early spray.

“Then, we come back with another Roundup spray in mid-summer, when Johnsongrass starts coming through. That takes out any broadleaved weeds and kills the Johnsongrass. With Roundup Ready alfalfa, I’ve been able to completely change my rotation—we go from alfalfa to oats and winter peas, then to green graze and back to alfalfa. It gives you a lot more flexibility, too. It doesn’t make any difference when you seed it, as long as the soil moisture is there, you can keep it clean.”

To avoid the possibility of weeds building up resistance to glyphosate, Staiger uses a full labeled rate of Roundup and always adds ammonium sulfate. He isn’t interested in the least amount of spray he can get away with, said the milk producer; he wants to make sure weeds are dead.

“I keep alfalfa stands limed and fertilized, too,” Staiger added. “We haven’t grown it long enough to know for sure, but I think stands will last longer with Roundup Ready alfalfa. We have fields ready and waiting, when we are again able to plant Roundup Ready alfalfa.”

Twisted path
To start the story closer to its beginning, Monsanto isolated and inserted a gene into alfalfa which gave the plant resistance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. APHIS screened the resulting RR alfalfa, and in June, 2005, de-regulated the product. In August, 2005, Forage Genetics International began commercializing resistant lines, which were passed along to seed companies, who bred glyphosate resistance into their alfalfa varieties.

Then, late in 2006, the Center for Food Safety and several seed companies filed suit against USDA in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, alleging shortcomings in the environmental assessment process followed by APHIS in de-regulating RR alfalfa. Judge Charles Breyer found in favor of the plaintiffs and stated that APHIS had violated the National Environmental Protection Act when the agency de-regulated RR alfalfa without performing a complete environmental impact statement first. The judge did not find any safety or health issues with RR alfalfa, but ordered an injunction against the sale of RR alfalfa seed and the planting of any new stands of RR alfalfa. On Aug. 13, 2007, Monsanto filed an appeal to Judge Breyer’s ruling. As of this writing, the injunction has not been lifted.

Waiting still
In compliance with the court order, APHIS last fall began the process of conducting a fully documented environmental impact assessment of RR alfalfa. On Jan. 7, 2008, USDA opened a public comment period, which ran until early last month. At this point, APHIS is not guessing how long the environmental study will take.

“If you don’t have Roundup Ready alfalfa growing now, you’re dead in the water until APHIS completes the study,” said Rob Kallenbach, University of Missouri forage specialist. “If history is any guide, those environmental impact studies can take up to 2 years or longer. I don’t expect to see Roundup Ready alfalfa de-regulated again before mid-2009.”

APHIS also published new rules on handling RR alfalfa. For growers like Gene Staiger, who feed the alfalfa they produce, the rules have little impact—other than the prohibition against any new plantings. But for hay sellers and dealers, several regulations must be followed. Hay sellers must keep RR alfalfa segregated in storage from non-genetically modified hay. RR alfalfa can be mingled with conventional hay in loads, but must be identified with a sign measuring 8.5 by 11 inches or larger and marked “Roundup Ready Alfalfa.”

In addition, the order requires vehicles hauling RR hay to carry extensive documentation, including the names and addresses of both seller and buyer, the hauler’s name, a hay lot number, unit count and weight (with a scale ticket) and the shipment date.

“It’s a lot more work and trouble for hay sellers and haulers,” said Kallenbach.

Barring an appellate-court overturn of Judge Breyer’s decision, it looks as if the trouble—and the ban on new RR alfalfa plantings—will continue for awhile. 

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