Bloomberg reports that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) wants to appeal this week’s court order requiring the destruction of GE sugar beets. While we’ve been encouraged this year by DOJ’s focus on competition issues in agriculture, this announcement is disconcerting. We wish DOJ was more concerned about the role of market power in the limited availability of conventional sugar beet seed, as is being reported, instead of advocating for the largest transnational seed firm in the world. The same firm that DOJ is investigating for anticompetitive conduct and being sued by the West Virgina Attorney General.
