WTF Alert: Supreme Court Upholds Monsanto’s Reign Over Neighboring Farmers

An attempt by farmers to protect themselves from Monsanto has bitten the dust. As we reported last month, farmers across the country, under a case titled Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) et. al v. Monsanto Company, sought “protection for America’s farmers from Monsanto’s frivolous patent infringement lawsuits, and their promiscuous genetically engineered pollen while also seeking to invalidate the patents on 23 of Monsanto’s GMO crops.”

Members of the OSGATA claimed that contamination of their crops from nearby Monsanto crops has forced them to undergo thorough and often costly testing to ensure purity or “actually forgo planting of certain crops in order to maintain seed purity.” And, as we’ve noted, Monsanto’s GMO wheat and alfalfa has been found in neighboring farms many times before, putting farmers in fear that they could be sued by Monsanto for the contamination.

The case has been dismissed before, but a brief was filed to the Supreme Court that would have reinstated more than 70 cases of organic and conventional farmers, seed companies, and public advocacy groups seeking protection from Monsanto’s lawsuits and continued contamination.

But this week, the Supreme Court left the previous decision of the federal appeals court intact. According to a report by RT.com, the appeals court decision was based on “Monsanto’s supposed promise not to sue farmers whose crops – including corn, soybeans, cotton, canola and others – contained traces of the company’s biotechnology products.”  Because it was deemed that trace contamination of nearby crops by Monsanto was “inevitable,” the plaintiffs asked Monsanto to make a promise to not sue them for infringement when this occurred.

However, Monsanto has denied a “blanket” assurance for farmers: “A blanket covenant not to sue any present or future member of petitioners’ organizations would enable virtually anyone to commit intentional infringement.”

Kyle McClain, Monsanto’s chief litigation counsel, said via Reuters that Monsanto does not (and will not) sue if the contamination is “inadvertent.”

“Monsanto never has and has committed it never will sue if our patented seed or traits are found in a farmer’s field as a result of inadvertent means,” McClain stated.

But for many farmers, that kind of statement is not enough to eliminate fear of Monsanto’s possible wrath.

“The Supreme Court failed to grasp the extreme predicament family farmers find themselves in,” said Jim Gerritsen, president of OSGATA and an organic seed farmer. “The Court of Appeals agreed our case had merit. However … [the] safeguards they ordered are insufficient to protect our farms and our families.”

Dave Murphy, Food Democracy Now! founder and executive director said in a statement, “If Monsanto can patent seeds for financial gain, they should be forced to pay for contaminating a farmer’s field, not be allowed to sue them. Once again, America’s farmers have been denied justice, while Monsanto’s reign of intimidation is allowed to continue in rural America.”

While the Supreme Court has essentially ruled Monsanto victorious in this upholding, Murphy says it’s not over.

“Monsanto has effectively gotten away with stealing the world’s seed heritage and abusing farmers for the flawed nature of their patented seed technology,” he said. “This is an outrage of historic proportions and will not stand.”

Image Source: Lisa/Flickr