4 ms·

The guy bought the seed from the grain elevator... what does that have to do with seed saving? I can see banning the former but people should be able to reuse t

The guy bought the seed from the grain elevator... what does that have to do with seed saving? I can see banning the former but people should be able to reuse their seed. (BTW, I worked like 6 summers for Monsanto detasseling corn)

talmand 14y ago
From my understanding, if you purchase Monsanto seeds you explicitly agree to not reuse seed from your crop. You have to purchase new seed from Monsanto for the next crop. Which I don't feel I necessarily disagree with that practice. You made the deal so you have to abide by it. The problem is that Monsanto claims to own the rights to all resulting seeds from their original, forever into the future. This includes cross pollination. So they want farmers who never agreed to use their seed in their crops to pay up because nature does its thing and everyone's crop ends up with characteristics of Monsanto's seed. The solution is for every farmer to pay Monsanto or ban nature.
- LarryMade 14y ago
  Monsanto should be sued for polluting the natural bio-system and be forced to clean up their mess. Soon the fossil fuel companies will be suing hospitals from profiteering from their air contributions.
  - TheAmazingIdiot 14y ago
    No. Instead, each state needs to file trespass charges for every farmer who didn't buy seed and had their field cross polinatee. Then you count how many seeds. There's a trespass charge for each and every one of them. After all, their seeds are their property.
- dean 14y ago
  How can Monsanto claim to own the rights to all seeds "forever into the future" based on a patent? Patents have a limited lifespan. At some point, the patent will expire, and Monsanto's rights along with it. If I were a farmer, I'd be stockpiling seeds for the day Monsanto's patent expires.
  - talmand 14y ago
    Ok, maybe the statement "forever into the future" is a bit strong, but considering typical corporation tactics I wouldn't be surprised if it somehow turns out that way. One possible way is to wait until the patent runs out, introduce a new version of the seed with a new patent, force all their farmer customers to start using new seed, wait until that seed spreads naturally, start suing again, rinse and repeat.

talmand 14y ago

From my understanding, if you purchase Monsanto seeds you explicitly agree to not reuse seed from your crop. You have to purchase new seed from Monsanto for the next crop. Which I don't feel I necessarily disagree with that practice. You made the deal so you have to abide by it. The problem is that Monsanto claims to own the rights to all resulting seeds from their original, forever into the future. This includes cross pollination. So they want farmers who never agreed to use their seed in their crops to pay up because nature does its thing and everyone's crop ends up with characteristics of Monsanto's seed. The solution is for every farmer to pay Monsanto or ban nature.

LarryMade 14y ago
Monsanto should be sued for polluting the natural bio-system and be forced to clean up their mess. Soon the fossil fuel companies will be suing hospitals from profiteering from their air contributions.
- TheAmazingIdiot 14y ago
  No. Instead, each state needs to file trespass charges for every farmer who didn't buy seed and had their field cross polinatee. Then you count how many seeds. There's a trespass charge for each and every one of them. After all, their seeds are their property.
dean 14y ago
How can Monsanto claim to own the rights to all seeds "forever into the future" based on a patent? Patents have a limited lifespan. At some point, the patent will expire, and Monsanto's rights along with it. If I were a farmer, I'd be stockpiling seeds for the day Monsanto's patent expires.
- talmand 14y ago
  Ok, maybe the statement "forever into the future" is a bit strong, but considering typical corporation tactics I wouldn't be surprised if it somehow turns out that way. One possible way is to wait until the patent runs out, introduce a new version of the seed with a new patent, force all their farmer customers to start using new seed, wait until that seed spreads naturally, start suing again, rinse and repeat.