Farmer prevails in 10-year battle vs Monsanto

Back in January, at the Sonoma Chamber of Commerce’s State of the State breakfast, state assembly member Jared Huffman mentioned a piece of legislation he was proposing, called AB 541: “Protection for Farmers Against Cross Contamination from Genetically Engineered Material.” Nobody seemed much interested.
On the face of it, a law to protect a farmer from a patent-holder whose product had contaminated the farmer’s property would seem ridiculous. But in Canada, in 1998, corn farmer Percy Schmeiser was sued by Monsanto, who claimed that some of its genetically modified (GM) corn, having drifted onto Schmeiser’s fields on the wind, had sprouted up in his all-natural cornfields and that Schmeiser had grown and harvested the corn and then planted some of it as seed the following year.
That pattern of activity has defined farming since plow first tilled field. But Monsanto, the largest seed company in the world, thought GM seed should be different. The company, claiming patent infringement, sued for alleged profits and $300,000 in damages and in 2001, a judge ruled that Schmeiser’s corn had violated Monsanto’s patent rights. He was ordered to pay $10,000 licensing fees and $75,000 in profits. Earth Island Journal reported Schmeiser as saying, “I haven’t got many years left, but I’m going to spend what time I have fighting this.”
Now, after 10 years of legal battle, David has triumphed over Goliath. The two settled out of court last week. Schmeiser has spoken in Sonoma several times in recent years and will return on Friday, May 2 (7 p.m. at the Community Center) to tell of the final success of his long struggle and to discuss what GM technology and patent holding currently means to farmers, diversity of seed, food and the environment.