Farmers can still plant the non-GMO sugar beets in the meantime, although those seeds nay be in short supply because the GMO stuff is contaminating everything else due to cross pollination.

Ugh.

Annie

Yep, anyone with high quality non-GMO seeds ought to do well until this is resolved.
Unfortunately the "small" farms that are being paid my Monsanto to grow the GMO seeds are in deep trouble.
I guess that's what happens though when you throw in with the "bad guys". Sometimes it comes back to bite you.

Deanna

Here Here!

I have been making the switch to evaporated cane juice..it's much more costly than any other "fine grained" sugar..

I also use coconut/palm sugar granules for some things.

Annie, are you going to start growing your own sugar too?

I really wish we could get away from all these "big farming" $$$ practices and concentrate on healing the earth's soil and waters and grow things responsibly for the greater good.

I think I'll stock up on my sugar for holiday baking now...

The article is very sketchy. What were they genetically modified for? What was the modification? Humans genetically modify organisms all the time thru selective breeding. GMOs just use a different process and it can be faster (or not, depending on how your research goes). The issue isn't GM per se, but what modifications are being made, and their impact. Article says nothing on this. Also, man made crops, whether GMOs or not, have impacts on the environment and the wild plants around the fields. Many of our invasives and weeds have escaped from agricultural production or got out as a result of human plant husbandry.
Most of the sugar in the stores isn't from sugar beets anyway. Only a few US brands offer beet sugar. I can't even get it here in PA that I know of.

I haven't opened the article - disclaimer.

My hackles get up any time I see 'Monsanto'. I'm no fan of Canola oil but google Monsanto and canola and you will see what the company has done to non-Monsanto growers. I swear they must have driven by fields with non-GMO plants and spread their own pollen around, just waiting to pounce on the farmers once the crop has come in. Dirty business people.

We don't need sugar beets. There are several "farmers" around this area getting over $500,000 a year not to farm land. Then those that do grow beets get price protections so they can compete with cane sugar which is cheaper to produce. The local "solution" to unwanted sugar beet production was to build an ethanol plant with government money with government price supports and pollute the ground water.

Of course little farmers like me that just want to grow a simple crop like trees get a tanker truck full of herbicide dumped on their land by the government. Claim was they needed to kill the cat-tail weeds in my frog pond. Truth was a company was hired to kill weeds in the ditches and they were paid by the gallon of herbicide used... so I "must" have needed thousands of gallons dumped on my tree farm. USDA sent me a letter explaining that frost not herbicide killed several hundred christmas trees planted near the pond. We all know how sensitive established spruce trees are to cold... must be warmer away from the pond.

I figure the government just hates small farmers and wants us dead.

: )
lyra

Lpinkmountain..when I read the article it said the beets were modified to be able to grow in the presence of round up. So then the farmers can spray round up in the same field but the beets would continue to grow while the weeds would be killed. Actually I think some plants are developing a resistance to round up on their own aren't they? Kind of like the bacteria that develop resistance to antibiotics.
Joann

Lots of crops are now "Round-up Ready". That means they have a gene spliced in that protects them from the gylcophosphate herbicide.

Problem is the gene "jumps". That is it will travel with pollen to the field next door. If next door saves any seed from his crop Monsanto owns it because they own anything with that gene. Sort of like me buying bucket of paint and painting your house... making it mine because I own the paint. A pathetically stupid Judge has approved this crime. Oops... did I infect your crop... suppose I own your stuff now.

Funny thing is Round-up is supposed to break down in three days allowing the planting of regular seeds. Soooo... if it breaks down into "harmless" chemicals so quickly why do we need Round-up Ready? One of those mouth saying one thing while the feet do another.

Other problem is the gene jumps into weeds. DNA is DNA and it can attach itself to genes in another species. So now the weeds are becoming Round-up Ready.

Traditional farming makes food more expensive but it is more dependable. The food also has more nutrients. I worked in the fields as a child chopping out weeds with a hoe. Without herbicide help the job is near hopeless. More then once I broke down and cried because the weeds were so thick it took an hour to go a hundred feet down the row. One of my childhood memories is the tears falling on the back of my hands as I chopped away at those nasty weeds. I've seen both sides of the herbicide issue with my own eyes.

: )
lyra

I must have missed the roundup reference, but I figured that might be it, since that is the standard GMO application. And I am TOTALLY against it, because like you say, the more humans use roundup (an herbicide), the faster plants will evolve resistence to roundup. Nothing like engineering the resistance gene, how thoughtful of us to do that for the weeds!! It's just like antibiotics, MORE is not better but try telling that to the manufacturers. The chemical companies don't care if plants evolve roundup resistence, they'll just concoct another herbicide to sell. Same with modern medicine. I am beginning to think the last thing the industrial medical complex wants is for people to get better, for their potions to actually work. Because then we'd only need/use them once and a while. No, some kind of chronic condition (like say, depression, or ADD) that has to be managed by constantly taking medication, that's what they would like most Americans to have. Same with pesticides and herbicides. Use them judiciously??!! That's not the American way! We use the band aide philosophy. If one solution doesn't work, don't stop doing the root thing that's causing the problem, solve it with a band aide. And when that band aide causes a problem, apply another band aide on top of that band aide. Or maybe it is the "duct tape" philosophy, lol!

Control the food, control the world. Whether or not it'st literally written in Monsanto's business model, it is their philosophy and practice. The whole thing about Monsanto owning that gene makes my blood boil. To me, Monsanto is evil.

What bugs me about the Roundup Ready crops is that it means that we're all eating food that has Roundup sprayed on it, not to mention the other chemicals that are applied.

Sally

Yes, Lyra, the government hates us. (shrug) Small frmers just keep on farming, though, it's in OUR genes.

I also spent a great many of my childhood hours on the end of a hoe handle, frustrated because I didn't make much headway, but now I don't mind it so much. I solve the world's problems with a hoe in my hand...

And with everything the government is doing to "protect" us, I see there's a recall of 228 MILLION eggs. remind me to say thanks to my "girls" for that 2 dozen I picked up from the farm last night.

Annie