GM sugar on shelves but not in EU’s fields

Mr Sturdy said GM sugar beet grown in the US could be exported to sit on Europe’s supermarket shelves, yet the same GM sugar beet could not be grown by EU farmers.

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He said Europe’s slow GM approvals process would drive UK growers away from of sugar beet.

“The EU is allowing imports of a superior product, while not allowing its cultivation in the EU,” said Mr Sturdy of the US-grown herbicide-tolerant sugar beet .

“It seems a folly to tell British farmers they will have to wait another six years before they can catch up with the techniques used across the Atlantic.

“Sugar farmers across the UK are seriously reconsidering whether they should stay in the business. With the extra advantage afforded to their US competitors, many will quit farming altogether,” he said.

As reported in last week’s FG, the US sugar beet crop is predicted to be nearly 100 per cent GM in 2009 after widespread adoption of Monsanto’s Round-up Ready (RR) herbicide-tolerant beet.

Initial cost comparisons from the US show little overall difference between growing conventional and GM sugar beet. The latter variety, however, is easier to grow, requiring reduced herbicide sprays and fewer field passes.

EU approvals process

Cambridgeshire sugar beet grower, Oliver Walston, said he would welcome an opportunity to grow GM sugar beet: “Weed control in sugar beet would be made very easy if all we needed was Round-up. I would love to grow GM but only if the consumer wanted to buy,” he said.

But, because of the drawn-out EU approvals process, Mr Sturdy said UK sugar growers would have to wait until at least 2015 before they could start GM cultivation.