USDA Deregulates Roundup Ready Alfalfa

Roundup Ready alfalfa has approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to be granted what is called a non-regulated status. This allows alfalfa growers to plant Roundup Ready Alfalfa. Roundup Ready Alfalfa has been genetically modified to be resistant to the Roundup herbicide.

This decision has been determined based on a thorough plant pest assessment prepared by APHIS. Their findings indicate there is not any plant pest risk associated with the use of Roundup Ready alfalfa.

Farmers can plant Roundup Ready alfalfa seed without further oversight from APHIS. However, farmers will be subject to contract restrictions within Monsanto’s technology use agreement. These non-regulatory restrictions include managing hay to prevent seed production, harvesting at or before ten percent bloom in areas where seed is produced, and prohibitions on use in wildlife feed plots. Also, growers whom grow alfalfa for seed must follow Forage Genetics Best Practices.

This information has been published by APHIS Biotechnology Regulatory Services January 2011: “Questions and Answers: Roundup Ready Alfalfa Deregulation.”

For more information, contact Wayne Flanary at 660-446-3724 or Heather Benedict at 660-425-6434, Regional Agronomists, University of Missouri Extension.

APHIS Deregulates Roundup Ready Alfalfa

Westboro farmer Blake Hurst, Missouri Farm Bureau President, welcomed the news the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) approved the unconditional deregulation of Roundup Ready alfalfa.

“Our organization had serious concerns about the possible inclusion of geographic restrictions and isolation distances as conditions for deregulation,” Hurst said. “Such a decision would have undermined the credibility of the department’s science-based regulatory regime for approving biotech crops.”

Hurst said the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was considering some rather draconian buffer strips between Roundup Ready alfalfa and producers of non-biotech crops.

“The science is clear, and the laws are written so when things are proven safe they should be deregulated,” Hurst said. “We in Farm Bureau are pleased USDA officials adhered to sound science in the regulatory approval process, and that our farmers will be able to use the best technology available.”