Sugar Producer

www.SugarProducer.com 5 PUBLISHER Jason Harris MANAGING EDITOR Steve Smede smede@harrispublishing.com EDITOR Allen Thayer allen@sugarproducer.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Tyrell Marchant tyrell@sugarproducer.com ADVERTISING DIRECTOR Dave Alexander dave@sugarproducer.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Rob Erickson rob.erickson@sugarproducer.com GROUP SECRETARY Magdalene Mercado CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Yvonne Young MARKETING DIRECTOR Robin Black PRODUCTION MANAGER Janet Chase PRODUCTION STAFF Jim Donovan R.D. Dye April Frederick Lavon Horne Del Moss IT DIRECTOR Chuck Harris CONTROLLER Clayton Ward ACCOUNTING Barbara Morotini PRESIDENT Jason Harris VICE PRESIDENT Chuck Harris VICE PRESIDENT Ryan Harris VICE PRESIDENT Steve Janes VICE PRESIDENT Greg Larsen SECRETARY Janet Chase TREASURER Clayton Ward Sugar Producer magazine is published nine times yearly. ©2014, Harris Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited. Publisher not responsible for content of submitted materials. Back copies or subscriptions: 800-210-1360. Basic subscription rates are: U.S., 1 year-$19.95, nine issues; Canada/International 1 year, $90 U.S., nine issues; All subscriptions are U.S. funds only. Limited back issues available for $10 U.S. each. ORGANIZATIONS ASGA 202-833-2398 www.americansugarbeet.org U.S. BEET SUGAR ASSOCIATION 202-296-4820 AMERICAN SUGAR ALLIANCE 703-351-5055 | www.sugaralliance.org BEET SUGAR DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION 303-832-4460 SUGAR ASSOCIATION, INC. 202-785-1122 | www.sugar.org Printed in Idaho Falls, Idaho by Falls Printing dave@fallsprinting.com HARRIS PUBLISHING, INC. 360 B Street Idaho Falls, ID 83402 208-524-7000 | Fax: 208-522-5241 FOUNDER Darryl W. Harris On April 16 the Vermont Senate passed a "no strings attached" Genetically Modified Organism labeling bill. Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the bill on May 8 and on May 9 the 300-plus member Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) moved to sue Vermont in federal court to overturn the new law. GMO labeling will go into effect in July 2016. The Vermont law represents a break- through of sorts. Monsanto and the GMA have effectively blocked GMO labeling leg- islation in 30 states at the cost of more than $100 million. In Oregon, Jackson County and neigh- boring Josephine County approved a ballot initiative on May 20 to ban GMOs from the Rogue Valley. The fight over the Josephine County mea- sure is likely to be brief. It's pre-empted by a 2013 law prohibiting local bans on GMOs. But the law, approved as part of a "grand bar- gain" involving pension cuts and tax hikes, exempts Jackson County's effort, which qualified for the ballot before the Legislature decided to shut the door. The measure establishes a 12-month window during which growers most purge their property of GMOs. The most commonly grown GMO crops in the area are sugarbeets, corn and alfalfa. Nothing is expected to hap- pen quickly in expectation of potential legal challenges. One avenue might be Oregon's "right to farm" law. It asserts that for economic reasons "farming and forest practices must be protected from legal actions that may be in- tended to limit, or have the effect of limiting, farming and forest practices." Inside Sugar Producer By Allen Thayer | EDITOR Taking Aim at GMOs Several fronts exist in the GMO war www.sugarproducer.com If judges hold up the GMO prohibition, it could drive Syngenta out of the Rogue Valley, where it grows seed for sugarbeets resistant to the weed killer Roundup. A statewide measure to label GMOs is on the Oregon ballot this November. At least a dozen places around the nation have adopted GMO bans or limits, including areas of California, Hawaii, Maine and Wash- ington. Unlike Oregon's Rogue Valley, most of those counties did not have genetically modified crops growing before the bans. In Congress, the GMA continues to push for passage of the "Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2014," which will nullify state laws regulating or banning GMOs. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan., has been dubbed DARK: "Denying Americans the Right to Know." Pompeo said that the bill would "protect consumers by eliminating confusion and ad- vancing food safety." Bill opponents said that it would give the ultimate authority of GMO labeling to the FDA. Pompeo's bill has the support of the biotechnology and the agriculture industry giants, who have been actively fighting con- sumer favored GMO legislation. Pompeo seeks to completely nullify the efforts of at least 20 states in the union that seek to require labeling of GMOs. Pompeo calls the labeling laws the states are enacting a "patchwork" and says they mislead consum- ers by causing them to worry over the safety of GMOs in food. Pompeo stands by industry claims that GMOs are perfectly safe and are a benefit to the people of the world. To date, more than 60 countries have restricted GMOs or passed labeling laws for them. In the European Union, GMOs have been banned since 1997. However, imported GM animal feed is permitted. n

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