A European committee has blocked a proposal that would have allowed all 28 EU countries to decide on their own whether or not to allow import or use of biotech products. American Soybean Association President Wade Cowan says if the plan had gone forward it would have violated the EU’s WTO obligations and distorted the internal market for grain movement within the EU.

He says most European farmers want to be able to grow biotech crops. He’s hoping the government action on biotech signals a weakening of their ban and may help open the door for that opportunity.

Cowan says European livestock producers also want easier access to feed and by banning or curtailing the use of biotech crops, that penalizes them.

The European committee defeated the biotech opt out plan on a vote of 47 to 3. Europe currently buys about 11 percent of all U.S. soy exports, receiving 4.3 million metric tons of soybeans.