The American Soybean Association (ASA) is offering growers information about the domestic and foreign demand for both biotech and non-biotech soybeans to help them make seed and planting decisions for the 2000 crop year. In its latest effort, the ASA is distributing a printed guide titled, "Planting Decision 2000," which will be mailed to more than a quarter-million soybean producers this month. The information is also available to the public on ASA’s web site at www.amsoy.org/library.htm.

"One of the most frequently asked questions farmers ask is what seed varieties they should plant in view of the current controversy surrounding biotechnology," said ASA President Marc Curtis, a soybean producer from Leland, Miss. "Understanding the current factors influencing demand for both biotech and non-biotech soybean varieties will help all of us make sound decisions."

In recent months the ASA conducted a series of town hall planting seminars around the country that were well attended by growers. ASA also will host an international identity preservation (IP) conference this month in Saint Louis.

"We want farmers to be aware that there are some customers buying identity preserved, non-biotech supplies of soybeans, and that opportunities for premiums for non-biotech IP production do exist," Curtis said. "However, we also want farmers to know that the demand for non-biotech soybeans currently represents a small fraction of the total demand for U.S. soy products. When making their seed and planting decisions we are advising producers to weigh these facts, to talk with their local buyers, and to compare the total cost and benefits of their seed and herbicide selections on a field by field basis for both biotech and non-biotech varieties."

Biotech soybean seedstock became available commercially in 1996, when U.S. farmers planted about 1 million acres of biotech varieties, which represented less than two percent of the total soybean acres planted that year. In 1997, planted acres of biotech soybeans increased to nearly 10 million acres, or about 14 percent of the total soy acres planted. By 1998, biotech seedstock acres increased to 25 million acres, representing about 34 percent of the total soy planting.

Last year in 1999, approximately 38 million acres or 54 percent of total U.S. soy acres were planted to biotech seedstock. The soybeans grown from these biotech varieties have been approved for planting in the U.S., are approved for domestic consumption, and have been approved for importation into all major international markets by government regulators in those foreign countries.

"The ASA is a strong advocate of agricultural biotechnology as a tool that can help farmers produce safer, more nutritious food more efficiently and more abundantly," Curtis said. "However, ASA must take off its advocacy hat to provide soybean farmers with information that is as accurate and as balanced as possible to help them make their seed and planting decisions for 2000."