THOSE OTHER GMOs

The rapid rise in the use of genetically modified (GM) corn, cotton and soybeans has been well documented in the U.S., in part thanks to agencies like USDA's Economic Research Service, which routinely assesses the status of these GM crops. Now the agency has published a report on the adoption of a lesser-studied group of GM crops, namely alfalfa, canola and sugarbeets. The report shows that while these crops had a slower rise to prominence, in part due to legal and regulatory issues, their adoption has risen rapidly in the past decade.After it was deregulated in 1998, herbicide-tolerant canola was adopted on 70% of canola acres by 2001. Adoption continued to rise slowly but steadily, and by 2013, GM canola accounted for 95% of the 1.3 million U.S. acres of canola, according to the ERS report. Sugarbeets were later to the scene, but adoption was quite rapid. The first herbicide-tolerant varieties hit the market in 2008; by 2013, 99% of sugarbeets in 2013 were produced from GM seeds.GM alfalfa has faced a very different road into U.S. fields. USDA first deregulated herbicide-tolerant alfalfa in 2005, but the trait was held up by legal challenges that stretched into 2011. Only in February of that year was GM alfalfa fully deregulated and significant plantings began that spring. By 2013, ERS estimates that 13% of U.S. alfalfa acres were planted with GM seed, despite showing a documented 17% increase in yields compared to non-GM alfalfa fields. A slower adoption rate is "to be expected," the ERS report noted, "because alfalfa is a perennial crop and only about one-seventh of the alfalfa acreage is newly seeded each year."