A federal judge has ordered Monsanto to tear up 256 acres of genetically modified sugar beets in Oregon and Arizona that were to be used to produce seed for the 2012 crop.

Monsanto said Wednesday that it would appeal the order, The Wall Street Journal reported.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White in San Francisco issued the preliminary injunction late Tuesday at the request of environmental groups, which had argued the U.S. Department of Agriculture improperly issued planting permits in September to a handful of companies that produce sugar-beet seeds.

The Los Angeles Times' Greenspace blog said activists groups, including the Center for Food Safety and Earthjustice, are trying to prevent the Obama administration from sidestepping Judge White's August decision that effectively banned U.S. farmers from planting genetically modified sugar beets next spring, and perhaps even in 2012.