Led by sugar growers and processors, farm groups in Idaho are considering whether to push for a state law against labeling food made with genetically modified organisms, says Capital Press. It quotes Mark Duffin of the Idaho Sugarbeet Growers Association as saying, “We’ve been kind of working with a group of agricultural representatives to look at the tactics one could take to forestall these local initiatives like there’s been in Oregon and Washington and Colorado.” Duffin and a sugar industry official told Capital Press that discussions were in early stage.
There is little chance of GMO labeling being approved in politically conservative Idaho, said an Idaho Farm Bureau spokesman. The spokesman said an anti-labeling bill would attract adverse attention to the state when a national solution may be at hand in Congress. Idaho grows 20 percent of U.S. sugarbeets and is the second-largest grower, behind Minnesota.