Posted on 01/15/2005 4:26:45 PM PST by Brilliant
So if the busy little bees and the wind pollinates your field from a Monsanto planted field and you save your seed, can Monsanto sue you and have you thrown into jail even though you never bought any of their seed in the first place? It's happened in Canada.
I sympathise with the farmers, but if not saving seed was a condition of purchase they are stuck. MOnsanto has to make a return on its research or there won't be any new drought or insect resistant strains developed.
I saw a sign on a plant in a nursery saying it was proprietary and propogation without permission was prohibited.
It was at that point I immediately gave up my former belief in the need to protect intellectual property. This has hit Roman candle proportions of insanity.
It's not insanity. ADM/Monsato have *EVIL* intentions.
You have to think a few steps further to understand the long-term ramifications.
To late. Percy Schmier has already lost his case and has also lost his appeal to the Canadain Supreme Court.
Thanks for the ping!
Well, I'd agree they have a legal case. The question I have is whether it's good policy to sue your customers like this. It's certainly not good PR.
But that is their decision, I guess.
"I have heard of the development of hybrids which will not reproduce. The customer must purchase next years' seed anyway." (For everyone's info, LaBette.)
As a self-proclaimed expert in this field, (I was in the Heirloom Seed Biz for seven years) you are quite correct. Monsanto modifies seed for a few reasons:
1. GMO's (genetically modified seed) behave in a certain way, produce more per acre and are resistant to standard diseases. An example is their Round-Up Ready soybeans (which this bru-ha-ha is probably all about) because the plants are not effected by the chemical Round-Up, so you can spray the field to get rid of all the weeds, and not effect your crop. They put millions of dollars into R&D, so of course they want to protect their investment.
2. Any seed that is a GMO or hybrid will not reproduce true the second year; you'll get some genetic mutation from either the male or female side. This is also true when you're planting pure or heirloom seed in your garden as well. If plants are not spaced properly, or you don't use germination cages, things cross. Mother Nature is not picky. She just wants to spread her DNA around as much as possible. In reality, many of the "heirloom" tomato plants you see for sale in the spring were once "accidents of nature," but someone has been able to isolate the seed at a certain point for the great characteristics of that particular tomato and continues to keep those characteristics as they are. (Flavor, disesase resistance, great production, a certain color or stripe, few seeds, an interesting leaf, etc.)
3. It all comes down to money, and while I'd like to always side with the farmer, this guy is violating his agreement with the company, and something should be done about it. FIL grows corn and soybean, so I know the ins and outs of growing crops on a large scale, though we just do about 200 acres, versus the 5,000 this farmer does. (He is NOT a small-scale farmer by any means.) If we saved corn or soybean seed from year to year, we'd be out of business within one cycle, because what we'd be growing would be some mutant freak. I don't know how this farmer is making money off of saving GMO seed? That don't make no sense. ;)
4. Controlling the food supply? Well, in a sense, but America produces enough food to feed the world each year, (unfortunately we have unscrupulous people and dirty foreign governments in charge of distributing that food; hence the continuation of World Hunger) so they're doing something right. If you want to take a stand, learn to grow your own or join a local Community Supported Ag farm, shop at your weekend Farmer's Markets, etc. That's what I do. Home gardening is a multi-billion dollar business now. Most people still can't feed themselves, but a lot more are trying. :)
And Monsanto is not the only seed company doing this. All of them do, to some extent. They're just the biggest.
Arrrrrrr, Matey, I'll have ye plow the back forty and feed the cows, I will! Arrrrrrrrrr......
In a way it is GOOD PR. All the farmers who ARE following the rules aren't crying in their beer over this case.
Ignoring the rules give the violator an unfair financial advantage. So going ofter the perps, is, in a way, good PR.
Thanks for the info. This reminds me of a neighbor who ran out of his favorite Dekalb milo variety{a few years back},with only a dozen or so acres left to plant. His dealer is also sold out, so he fills the planter with whatever variety is in his grain bin. The result? Yeild compares similarly with hybrid from dealer. He saves enough of this seed to replant the same plot again. You guessed it. The next generation of plants displayed "the fullness of their breeding". The plants were all of different height and maturity, and there were red, yellow, and bronze heads. It was a sight to behold.
Possibly. It's their call, I guess.
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