Alfalfa might not be a topic that captures the imagination, but this unassuming crop plays a vital role in our food supply. Often overlooked, alfalfa covers more than 15 million acres of US farmland annually, making it the fourth most prevalent crop. In Canada, alfalfa occupies roughly half the acreage. Alfalfa is commonly grown and harvested for livestock feed.

Until the 2000s, alfalfa has been a unique agricultural marvel in that 93% of US-grown alfalfa was produced without herbicides. In our input-heavy industrial agriculture system, that's no small feat. The crop naturally forms dense, tall plants that crowd out weeds, making it remarkably self-sustaining. Farmers typically sow perennial alfalfa seed in their fields only once every five to seven years and between sowings, the crop maintains deep roots that help feed the soil. 

Despite the crop's natural ability to suppress weed growth, genetically modified alfalfa engineered for herbicide tolerance entered the market in 2005. If you eat meat, eggs, dairy or honey, alfalfa plays a larger role in your life than you might think.

The GMO alfalfa saga

The decision to produce GMO alfalfa engineered to withstand herbicide might seem like a head-scratcher because GMOs are expensive to develop and this particular crop doesn't generally benefit from herbicides. 

GMO alfalfa meets a business need, not a practical one. 

After Monsanto had cornered the market for herbicide-tolerant GMOs with "Roundup Ready" GMO corn, soy and cotton, they looked to alfalfa to complete the set. Like the herbicide-tolerant GMOs that came before it, GMO alfalfa was designed to sell more chemicals to farmers.

The regulatory journey of GMO alfalfa was tumultuous. The crop was initially deregulated in 2005, then subject to a planting moratorium in 2007, pending environmental impact studies. The Supreme Court lifted the moratorium in 2010, and by 2011, GMO alfalfa was fully deregulated. Environmental groups continued to sound the alarm, warning that "planting GM[O] alfalfa will result in millions of pounds of toxic herbicides being sprayed in communities where farmers currently use no herbicides at all." The USDA estimated deregulating GMO alfalfa would add 23 million pounds of herbicides to the environment each year. But, the warnings came to no avail. Herbicide-tolerant GMO alfalfa began inching its way across the US landscape, and by 2013, approximately 13% of all US-grown alfalfa was GMO, engineered to withstand herbicide.

In 2014, a new GMO alfalfa variety was unveiled, this one with reduced lignin content to make it more easily digestible to cattle. It's worth noting that low-lignin alfalfa can also be produced through conventional breeding techniques, resulting in a non-GMO version. Because alfalfa is a perennial, and seeds are sowed at five to seven-year intervals, the adoption of GMO alfalfa has been slower than that of other GMOs sowed annually. But, adoption rates are accelerating and the Non-GMO Project Standard considers alfalfa a high-risk crop for the presence of GMOs. (Click here to learn more about the High-Risk List).

Impacts of GMO alfalfa

Herbicide-tolerant GMO alfalfa has significant consequences, such as GMO contamination of wild populations, impacts to non-GMO and organic alfalfa producers and ecological impacts. Alfalfa is easily pollinated by wind and insects, which means pollen with modified DNA can quickly spread to non-GMO and organic fields. As early as 2011, a USDA-ordered study found that 27% of wild alfalfa populations already showed GMO contamination — only six years after GMO alfalfa's initial deregulation. 

The spread of GMO alfalfa poses significant challenges for non-GMO and organic farmers. Alfalfa is a robust crop that produces hardy feral populations. Spilled GMO seed can result in "volunteer" plants — believed to be the source of the contamination recorded by USDA 2011 report. Volunteer GMOs can increase contamination risk exponentially, causing a snowball effect. The financial risks of GMO contamination can be devastating to farmers growing non-GMO or organic crops, whose contaminated crop loses non-GMO status and can be rejected from organic and international markets. (Historically, non-GMO growers with contaminated crops have borne the expense of losing market access; the agrochemical companies that produce them are not liable for their spread).

Before deregulating GMO alfalfa, the USDA predicted that glyphosate applications would increase. That was a safe bet, considering that the use of glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup and the type of herbicide most GMOs are paired with, increased 15-fold in the 20 years after herbicide-tolerant GMOs were introduced. Since the 1990s, advertisements for Roundup have regularly emphasized safety, describing the product as "less toxic than dish detergent" and "won't harm anything but weeds." However, its safety has been called into question. In 2023, researchers from the Global Glyphosate Study shared preliminary new evidence linking glyphosate to cancer at levels that have been considered safe.

Everything is connected

As with many aspects of the food system, the GMO alfalfa issue extends far beyond the fields. Nearly all alfalfa is used for animal feed, which means the animal-derived products at the grocery store rely on alfalfa cultivation. Because the Non-GMO Project Standard prohibits GMOs in livestock feed, looking for the Butterfly on meat, eggs and dairy products helps support non-GMO alfalfa producers. 

Our label is also impactful if you eat honey, because alfalfa plays a unique role in its production. Alfalfa produces abundant, nectar-rich flowers, making it an appealing food source for honey bees who gravitate to its purple blossoms. Their activity benefits the farmer, too, improving crop performance, quality and yield. However, glyphosate use threatens this delicate relationship, specifically regarding GMO alfalfa. While glyphosate does not kill a bee outright, it impacts their gut flora, potentially weakening them and making them more susceptible to viruses, mites and other predators. Non-GMO Project Verified honey is sourced from hives without GMOs in the bees' forage area.

GMO alfalfa's circuitous impact on the gut health of honeybees may seem like a stretch, but keep in mind bees are responsible for pollinating an estimated one-third of the food we eat. Ecological systems are complex, and this is the kind of complexity we need to consider to build a regenerative food system.

Toward a non-GMO future

The future of our planet depends on cultivating the ability to view challenges through a wider lens, accepting and embracing their inherent complexity. The concerns around GMO alfalfa are not isolated — they are part of a broader, interconnected ecological and economic system. 

Finding meaningful solutions to emerging challenges will require collaboration, scientific rigor and a commitment to sustainable practices. Preserving non-GMO choices, including naturally weed-resistant, non-GMO alfalfa, will help to ensure that future generations have access to diverse, sustainable agricultural options.