| The U.S. soy industry is on the verge of losing its 8th largest customer: Turkey. According to the United Soybean Board, 60 percent of Turkey's soybeans come from the U.S. Yet now Turkey has a new law that may ban - or at least slow down - all importation of genetically engineered foods. And nearly all of the soy grown in the U.S. is genetically engineered.
I've not been able to find much about this story in the news, aside from what's been said by the United Soybean Board, some of which sounds like it might be bogus. But apparently, Turkey might be doing this because they want to become more in line with the policies of the EU. Or, honestly, and the United Soybean Board wouldn't say this, maybe they've seen some good science that made them decide to rethink their policies on biotech imports.
At any rate, it does not look like this is a ban. Rather, they are creating a new Turkey Biosafety Board and GE varieties that are already legally sold in Turkey will have to resubmit paperwork to be approved all over again. Or not approved, as the case may be. And it seems there might be a period of time in between the currently approved stuff being disallowed and the new approvals being issued in which U.S. soybeans won't be allowed into Turkey.
Let's continue to follow this one. It's certainly likely the U.S. government will weigh in on GE soy's behalf. I'm also interested to see where Turkey plans to get its soy, if not from the U.S. The other big producers are Brazil and Argentina... and I believe they grow GE soy too. |
