USDA Announces Deregulation of Increased Yield, Herbicide-Resistant GE Soybean

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is deregulating a soybean variety, developed by Verdeca, LLC (Verdeca), genetically engineered (GE) for increased yield potential and resistance to the herbicide glufosinate.

As part of the petition process, APHIS prepared a draft plant pest risk assessment (PPRA) and draft environmental assessment (EA), and made these documents available for a 30-day public review and comment period on March 13, 2019.

APHIS considered all of the public comments and conducted a thorough review of the potential environmental impacts in its final EA pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), reaching a finding of no significant impact (FONSI).

APHIS concluded in its final PPRA that this GE soybean variety is unlikely to pose a plant pest risk to agricultural crops or other plants in the United States and is deregulating it effective August 7, 2019.

For more information, please visit USDA APHIS' Biotechnology Regulatory Services news page.