The American Soybean Association (ASA) welcomed the announcement this week that AgrEvo USA Company has decided to delay commercialization of their LibertyLink® Soybean seed to safeguard acceptance of U.S. soybeans and soybean products in major export markets. Although approved by the U.S. government for domestic planting and consumption, LibertyLink Soybeans have not received import clearances in any overseas markets. The presence of any LibertyLink Soybeans in U.S. export shipments could have resulted in the rejection of such shipments and lost markets for U.S. soybean farmers.

"ASA leaders greatly appreciate AgrEvo’s decision to again postpone the commercial introduction of LibertyLink Soybeans, which they had planned for this spring," said ASA President Mike Yost. "ASA and AgrEvo have been engaged in discussions for months on how best to keep LibertyLink Soybeans out of export channels until approvals for importation and processing were obtained in major export markets. AgrEvo’s decision demonstrates a strong commitment to protecting our $9 billion soybean export market for U.S. farmers."

ASA has urged all biotechnology and seed companies involved in the commercialization of biotechnology-derived soybean varieties to obtain international clearances for the importation of biotechnology-derived soybean products into major export markets before the varieties are commercialized in the United States. Until such international approvals are obtained, ASA expects biotech and seed companies to implement effective identity preservation programs to keep unapproved varieties out of export channels.

AgrEvo’s LibertyLink soybeans are the next new biotech soybean variety approaching commercialization. However, since LibertyLink Soybeans were not expected to be approved in any export markets before the U.S. harvest, ASA’s discussions with AgrEvo focused on delaying commercialization or builing an effective indentity preservation program that would keep LibertyLink Soybeans out of U.S. soy exports.

"Any new genetic event that creates a new variant of soybeans requires a new series of domestic and international regulatory clearances," Yost said. "Since 50 percent of the U.S. soybean crop is exported, the United States cannot afford to lose any export sales due to the lack of regulatory clearances in foreign markets. It has the potential to destroy prices paid to U.S. farmers for their soybeans if U.S. shipments were barred from major export markets."

ASA strongly supports efforts to make improvements to soybeans through the use of modern biotechnology. ASA believes that applied biotechnology will benefit consumers, the world’s environment, agricultural producers, and the entire ag-industry. Regretably, however, the complex international regulatory process for biotechnology-derived crops made it clear that LibertyLink Soybeans would not receive import clearances in the European Union and Japan before the 1999 harvest. The United States exports soybeans and soybean products worth $2.5 billion to the European Union and more than $1 billion to Japan annually. ASA will continue to take an active role in working with AgrEvo on its regulatory and commercialization plans.

"ASA is working to protect U.S. soybean exports and for international acceptance of biotech trade standards that are science-based ," Yost said. "The European Union in particular needs to adopt a much more transparent and expeditious process for approving new biotech varieties. ASA, AgrEvo, the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Agriculture are urging officials in the EU and other nations to make timely determinations on new varieties."

In the three years since the first commercial introduction of genetically modified crops in 1996, ASA believes agricultural biotechnology has become the defining issue in how the world will feed itself in the next century. Biotechnology will drive the reinvention of the U.S. agricultural production and marketing system in a relatively short period of years.

"I think this was an important decision for AgrEvo and for all U.S. soybean farmers," Yost said. "In making this decision, AgrEvo has once again demonstrated its long-term commitment to the U.S. soybean industry."