The planting season has yet to begin, but “some elevators have begun alerting growers that they will not accept” soybeans grown from Monsanto’s new genetically engineered strain, Roundup Ready 2 Xtend, unless the EU approves the variety, reports DTN. “Dicamba-tolerant soybeans have hit another snag along their long road to commercialization,” says the news service, referring to the other herbicide, besides glyphosate, that the new soybean is designed to tolerate.
Monsanto said it expects EU approval “in the immediate future.” The variety combines genetic modifications that have been approved separately by EU regulators, said Monsanto.
“Growers must also factor into their planting decisions that the Environmental Protection Agency has yet to sanction an approved dicamba herbicide to use with the new trait,” said DTN. The Monsanto soybeans would be the first that tolerate glyphosate and dicamba herbicides as a way to control herbicide-resistant weeds.
DTN says cultivation of GMO crops ahead of approval by major importers “has been an industry issue … sparked initially by China’s rejection of corn shipments testing positive for traces of Syngenta’s GE trait called Viptera.” The rejections led to a welter of lawsuits over lost sales and lower commodity prices.