Some 95 percent of U.S. sugar beets are Roundup Ready, developed and planted largely under the public radar since the U.S. Department of Agriculture quietly “deregulated” the crop in 2005.

On Sept. 21, though, a U.S. district judge in California hobbled the Roundup Ready revolution.

Roughly half of the U.S. corn crop, three quarters of the cotton, and 85 percent of the soybeans are genetically modified. But a legal battle over alfalfa, a bit player on the U.S. agricultural scene, could throw a giant monkey wrench in Monsanto’s plan to genetically engineer the world. Read Brave New Hay, from the [...]