November 20, 2008

EU farm ministers fell short of a consensus agreement on Wednesday (November 19) to allow imports of genetically modified (GM) soy developed by Monsanto.

The lack of consensus implied that EU livestock industry has yet to find a way to prevent supply shortages in livestock.

The soy, a second-generation GM product known by its code number MON 89788 and commercially as Roundup RReady2Yield, is designed to resist glyphosate Roundup Ready herbicides and produce increased yields for farmers.

Monsanto's application for EU approval is for its use in food and feed, not for growing in European fields. The application will now return to the European Commission, the European Union's executive arm, and most probably will receive a default 10-year approval in the coming weeks.

EU law allows for rubber-stamp GMO authorisations when ministers cannot agree after a certain time. Since 2004, the Brussels-based Commission has approved a string of GM products, nearly all corn, in this way, outraging green groups.

Monsanto's approval request landed on the ministers' agenda after a meeting of EU national experts in September also failed to reach agreement under the complex EU weighted voting system.

There were 13 countries in favour of approval: Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the Czech Republic and Netherlands.

Eight voted against the agreement: Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta and Poland. The rest did not note.

Europe's livestock and feed manufacturing industries have a keen interest in the EU authorizing more soy imports since they depend heavily on shipments of soy products as a source of protein-rich and high-quality feed.

EU countries produce a minimal amount of soy in terms of overall EU consumption, so imports are crucial. Soymeal is the primary source of protein for the EU animal feed market, representing more than 60 percent of vegetable protein.