BRIDGEWATER – Organic farmers Jim and Megan Gerritsen of Wood Prairie Farm plant a wide variety of crops – carrots, potatoes, onions, beets and parsnips. They also have a thriving Internet site that offers organic seeds – seeds which the Gerritsens must guarantee and be confident are purely organic.

But because of some new planting regulations allowed in a valley in Oregon, Jim Gerritsen, farmers and conservation groups are worried that their organic seed will become cross-pollinated by genetically engineered crops.

Gerritsen is the national president of the Organic Seed Alliance, one of a number of organizations that filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday in San Francisco against the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The suit is challenging the deregulation of herbicide-tolerant Roundup Ready, wind-pollinated sugar beets. Those participating in the suit include the Organic Seed Alliance, the Sierra Club, High Mowing Organic Seeds and the Center for Food Safety.

According to Gerritsen, the deregulation’s impact on Maine farmers will be great. “The seed that is grown primarily in Oregon is very important for the crops grown by Maine’s organic farmers,” he said Tuesday. He said Oregon’s Willamette Valley is one of the nation’s most important seed-growing areas. Seed there is grown for sugar beets, organic chard and table beet crops.

“The economic impact of contamination affects not only these seed farmers, but the beet and chard farmers who rely on the integrity of their varieties,” said Matthew Dillon of the Organic Seed Alliance.

The suit is demanding that mandated assessments of environmental, health and associated economic effects take place before the deregulation is allowed.

“The government cannot simply ignore the fact that deregulation will harm organic farmers and consumers and exacerbate the growing epidemic of herbicide-resistant weeds,” Greg Loarie of Earthjustice said in a prepared statement.

The Sierra Club has weighed into the suit because of the effect on consumers. The sugar produced by these beets may be included in products ranging from candy to breakfast cereal to bread. Planting is expected to begin in the western U.S. this spring.

“As a consumer, I’m very concerned about genetically engineering sugar making its way into the products I eat, as well as genetic contamination of conventional and organically-grown varieties of table beets and chard,” Neil Carman of the Sierra Club said. “It’s unacceptable for consumers to be exposed to untested genetically engineered ingredients in foods that aren’t labeled. At a time when consumers are facing multiple food safety challenges, we don’t need more corporations messing with our food supply.”

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