Bloomberg.com, June 21 2010

The U.S. Supreme Court, ruling in favor of Monsanto Co., overturned a judge’s ban on the planting
of alfalfa seeds engineered to be resistant to the company’s
Roundup herbicide.

The 7-1 ruling shifts the focus of the environmental dispute to the Agriculture Department, which under today’s ruling now can consider allowing limited planting. That would be
an interim measure while the USDA finishes an environmental
impact statement that ultimately might clear the way for
unrestricted planting.

The justices said a federal judge in San Francisco went too far when he placed a nationwide ban on so-called Roundup-ready alfalfa seeds because of the possibility they would contaminate
other plants.

“An injunction is a drastic and extraordinary remedy, which should not be granted as a matter of course,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority. Justice John Paul Stevens
was the lone dissenter.

Today’s decision may affect a similar fight being waged over Monsanto’s Roundup-tolerant sugar beet seeds.

Alfalfa, the fourth-most-planted U.S. crop behind corn, soybeans and wheat, is worth $9 billion a year, with annual seed sales valued at $63 million, according to a USDA study. Dairy
cows are the primary consumers of alfalfa hay.

The trial judge who blocked all planting was U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer, brother of Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. As is his custom in such cases,
Stephen Breyer didn’t
take part in today’s ruling.

Appeals Court

A San Francisco-based federal appeals court upheld Breyer’s order banning the planting. The Obama administration backed St. Louis-based Monsanto in the case.

Farmers and environmental groups, represented by the Washington-based Center for Food Safety, sued to halt use of the alfalfa seeds.

They contended -- and Breyer agreed -- that the Agriculture Department was required to prepare an environmental impact statement before authorizing unrestricted planting of the seeds.
That finding wasn’t at issue in the Supreme Court case, which
focused on whether the nationwide planting ban was an
appropriate interim step.

A draft environmental impact statement released in December reported no significant effect from the seeds on the environment or human health. The USDA said Roundup Ready alfalfa can reduce
costs and yield more valuable hay because it contains fewer
weeds. During arguments in December, a government lawyer said
the final statement would probably be ready in about a year.

Organic alfalfa production has nearly doubled in recent years, while still accounting for less than 1 percent of total output, according to the USDA.

About 5,500 growers planted 263,000 acres of Roundup Ready alfalfa before the ban went into effect, Monsanto says. Monsanto doesn’t produce the seeds itself, instead licensing the
technology to alfalfa seed makers including Forage Genetics
International.

The case is Monsanto v. Geertson Seed Farms, 09-475.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net.