Sugar Producer

6 Sugar Producer MAY 2016 Inside Sugar Producer By Allen Thayer | EDITOR GMO Issue Not Going Away About 1,600 people attended the 54th International Sugarbeet Institute on March 16-17 in Grand Forks, N.D. Keynote speakers were Jim Wiesemeyer, senior vice president of Informa Economics Inc. in Washington, D.C., and David Berg, American Crystal Sugar CEO. "The GMO issue is something we need to be concerned about," Wiesemeyer said. Public concern about food that comes from products with genetically modified organisms could work against sugar and the rest of U.S. agriculture, he said. Fifty-five percent of U.S. sugar comes from sugarbeets, and virtually all the sugarbeet seed used in the country has been genetically modified to resist the herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup Ready. Wiesemeyer noted that the U.S. Senate on March 16 rejected an effort involving a national GMO labeling law supported by most food companies and major ag groups. The vote ensured that any GMO labeling laws passed at the state level can remain in place and won't be supplanted by nationwide, voluntary guidelines for manufacturers to follow. The legislation in question would have prohibited states from going ahead and making their own laws about GMO labeling. Proponents of the amendment said a "patchwork" of regulations would be an expensive headache for food manufacturers, who would just push the costs onto consumers. Opponents said since Congress won't act, states should be able to decide what their governments want to do about the current dearth of labeling, and implement rules as they see fit. The country's first law requiring mandatory GMO labels is slated to go into effect July 1 in Vermont. Facing fines up to $1,000 a day per product, food makers from giants like General Mills Inc. to regional businesses like Vermont Fresh Pasta are making big adjustments, many of which extend beyond the state's borders. Vermont is a tiny market for most companies, but the integrated nature of supply chains gives it an outsize effect. On March 18, General Mills said it is slapping GMO labels on its packaged food nationwide, saying it would be too complex and expensive to create a separate distribution network for the 626,000-person state of Vermont. The maker of Cheerios and Lucky Charms remains firm in its stance against mandatory labeling, but "having one system for Vermont and one for everywhere else is untenable," said Jeff Harmening, General Mills' chief operating officer of U.S. retail. All eyes on Vermont as labeling law goes into effect July 1 GMO LABELING POSES PROBLEM Jim Wiesemeyer, Informa Economics Inc. senior vice president, spoke about GMOs and an array of other topics at the International Sugar Institute on March 16 in Grand Forks, N.D. TALKIN' ABOUT SUGAR David Berg, president and CEO of American Crystal Sugar Company, presents an overview of the history of sugar at the International Sugar Institute on March 17 in Grand Forks, N.D.

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