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The U.S. Supreme Court lifted a ban on Monsanto Co.’s genetically engineered alfalfa ordered three years ago amid concern over contamination of conventional alfalfa fields.

The court’s 7-1 vote reverses a federal appeals court ruling. It opens the door for the Department of Agriculture to approve planting of the crop on an interim basis while the agency completes a more thorough environmental analysis.

The opinion represents the court’s first foray into the debate over genetically engineered crops and could help shape how new biotech crops are deregulated and how fast they are brought to market.

"This Supreme Court ruling is important for every American farmer, not just alfalfa growers," David F. Snively, Monsanto senior vice president and general counsel said in a statement. "All growers can rely on the expertise of USDA, and trust that future challenges to biotech approvals must now be based on scientific facts, not speculation."

A federal district court in California approved an injunction banning future plantings of the crop in 2007 after conventional alfalfa growers and environmental groups filed a lawsuit claiming the USDA’s Animal Plant Health Inspection Service erred by deregulating Roundup Ready alfalfa without preparing an environmental impact study.

The growers worried that conventional and organic alfalfa crops could be contaminated by pollen from the genetically modified plants if wind or insects carry pollen between fields. They also expressed concern that biotech crops would contribute to the development of weeds resistant to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weed killer.

The ban did allow farmers who had already purchased the Monsanto-engineered seeds to plant. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling.

Before the ban took effect, Roundup Ready alfalfa was planted on about 220,000 acres — less than 1 percent of the 23 million acres of alfalfa grown nationwide.

Alfalfa is the fourth-most widely grown U.S. crop behind corn, soybeans and wheat. It is mainly used for livestock feed, and much of what is grown is exported.

Creve Coeur-based Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, developed Roundup Ready alfalfa. Monsanto licenses the technology to Forage Genetics.

In its Supreme Court appeal, Monsanto didn’t challenge the district court’s decision that USDA was required to conduct an environmental impact statement. The company sought only to reverse the sweeping ban that prohibited future plantings of Roundup Ready alfalfa.

On Monday, the company said Roundup Ready alfalfa seed is ready to deliver and it hopes to have USDA approval to sell to growers this fall.

But the Center for Food Safety, a group that opposes genetically modified crops and plaintiff in the original lawsuit, suggested that any effort to plantings on an interim basis would be challenged.

"The bottom line is that the Supreme Court set aside the injunction because the vacating of the commercialization decision already gave us all the relief we needed," George Kimbrell, senior staff attorney for group, said in a statement. "And at such time, farmers and consumers still have the right to challenge the adequacy of that process."

Justice Stephen Breyer didn’t take part in the decision. His brother is the district court judge who ordered the 2007 ban.

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