GMO backlash threatens US beet farmers

NEW YORK – America’s sugar beet growers are under siege as US food companies increasingly shun genetically modified organisms (GMO) crops.

In the past seven years, the farmers – many in Minnesota, North Dakota, Michigan, and Idaho – have all switched to GMO seeds created by Monsanto Co and sold by others as they seek to increase yields and cut costs. Genetically modified organisms include plants that have had been created through gene splicing – the introduction of DNA from a different species to make a new one.

Now, as public sentiment moves against GMO crops and imports of cane sugar rise, sugar beet growers have seen their share of the US sugar market slip to the smallest on record. Critics believe GMO crops contribute to the industrialisation of farming and question promises of safety.

Beets will account for almost 60% of this year’s 8,8 million tonnes of sugar production in the United States. Any difference between what’s been produced and what’s been sold is generally inventoried and/or sold the following year. Though it’s not clear that the erosion in demand comes from reaction against GMO food, industry sources said the trend is beginning to pressure the beet industry.

Food manufacturers are taking seriously the backlash from consumers, including Millennials, the generation of people now in their 20s and 30s, who are perceived to care more about the ingredients on their plates.

“Millennials care about the ingredients that are in our products,” said Eric Boyle, director of responsible sourcing at Hershey. “Simple ingredients are a long-term trend. This is where things are going.”

Hershey will stop using beet sugar in its Kisses and Milk Chocolate bars, two of its best-known products, by the end of the year.

It’s easy to see why beet farmers made the switch to biotech. Within two years of the seed’s launch in 2008, they were used in almost every US beet farm, boosting yields to record highs and slashing herbicide costs.

For most beet farmers, returning to conventional seeds is inconceivable. Sugar from beets and sugar from cane look and taste the same. Proponents of GMO sugar say that the product is safe and identical to its non-GMO competition.

Even so, consumers are turning to organic and less processed foods, said Billy Roberts, a senior food and drink analyst at Mintel.

“People are interested in avoiding Frankenfood and foods they don’t understand,” Roberts said.

For beet farmers, the situation has gotten so bad that they are boosting their lobbying efforts in Washington and launching their first major offensive to combat growing public opposition through a social media campaign.

Western Sugar, one of eight sugarbeet cooperatives in the United States, is already seeing a dent in sales as consumers turn away from GMO.

As the debate over GMO foods drives customers away from beet sugar, it’s also exposed a schism with the farmers who grow sugar cane in Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii, and Texas.

Cane growers have become the main beneficiaries of the shift away from beet sugar and many are embracing the trend. There are no genetically-modified cane seeds.

Cane and beet farm groups declined to discuss the polarising effect the GMO issue has on their industry, one of the nation’s most powerful farm lobby groups in Washington.

Luther Markwart, head of the American Sugarbeet Growers Association that represents the country’s 10 000 beet farmers, acknowledged that on this issue, unlike most, sugar beet farmers are going it alone.

“This is simply a beet issue,” he said.

The industry is throwing more cash at the issue too. This year, the US Beet Sugar Association, a sister organisation which represents sugar-beet processors, has started lobbying on biotechnology for the first time.

It spent almost US$1 million in the first half of the year on issues including GMO labelling, according to US Senate records reviewed by Reuters.

GMO critics “are trying to drive a wedge between the farmers and the consumers,” said Laura Rutherford, a North Dakota-based farmer and the first recruit to the social media campaign. “We need to start pushing back.” –Nampa-Reuters

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