Bowman Vs Monsanto

According to the article somewhere around 325,000 farmers purchase seeds each year under an agreement that “they will will not save and replant seeds produced from” Monsanto. With an agreement like this in place, the corporation feels the need to be sure that clients withhold their contracts. Monsanto sends out private investigators to essentially follow farmers, photographing them and watching everything that they do. If an investigator determines that a farmer is breaking contract, that farmer will have to pay a fine, or, in extreme cases, a lawsuit will be filed. However, according to the essay by Monsanto, there have been only “147 lawsuits filed since 1997 in the United States. This averages about 8 per year for the past 18 years. To date, only 9 cases have gone through full trial. In every one of these instances, the jury or court decided in our favor.” They do this because when farmers replant, they no longer have a reason to purchase seeds, therefore costing the company money. Another reason that Monsanto uses such a practice is because the loss of that revenue hinders their ability to research and develop products that would help farmers. A

Monsanto positions itself as a relatively new agricultural company having formed in 2002, and focused on supporting local farmers around the world. They also promote themselves as a guardian of the environment with a mission “to produce more food while conserving more” (Monsanto.com). Today’s Monsanto conglomerate also promotes itself as the “New Merchants,” a leading research company in the field of agriculture-crop production, as well as a strong supporter of public and private research through its grant, donations and University scholarship programs.

The farmers then give their products to the manufacturers, who represent the bottleneck of the food system (21). “The ten largest companies control half of the world’s seed supply. …Ten firms control 90% of the nearly $38.6 billion pesticide markets (111-112).” Monsanto, being one of the ten companies that controls the world’s seed supply, is a company that has patents on all of its seeds and products. It produces genetically modified crops that are resistant to its own pesticides and herbicides, so that when a pesticide or herbicide is sprayed and it destroys all plants, the Monsanto seed survives because of its resistance. The reason that Monsanto is able to stay in business is because of the economic benefit it poses for the farmers. They are able to produce their crops at a much higher yield because they are losing less of their crops to pests. This higher yield results in lower costs for the consumers as well (Planes). As discussed

The use of Monsanto’s tactical format for approaching farmers who misuse their seeds is one that I find a little concerning. Monsanto has a policy that the farmers who purchase their seeds sign that they are not able to save their seeds or replant them for the next years crop. It is important for all industries to protect their patented product, but I am not sure preventing the farmer’s from using a product purchased in a previous year would damage their patent. The farmer has already purchased the seed from the supplier, so the seed is technically the owned product of the farmer who completed the purchase. If the farmer is not doing anything with the product that will manipulate how it is used or in a manner where the crop is produced,

I believe that Monsanto’s patent on seeds has been exhausted. After the seeds have been bought, Monsanto no longer has control of the seeds. If a seed is in the ground it will naturally reproduce. It does not matter if the seed was planted, deposited by animals, blow in the wind, or left from previous generations the seed is still going to reproduce. How can Monsanto claim that all reproduce seeds of the Roundup Ready soybean belongs to them when the seeds produce copies all by

When seed farmers sign a contract with Monsanto, they are required to use their engineered seeds. Monsanto sues the farmer if they do not use the seeds that they require them to use. The regulations of these companies cause

Farming policy of seed patenting should be abolished, and farmers should have the right to reuse seeds. The farming polices like seed patenting is eliminating ancient farming practices and controlling the food supply and the farmers, as journalists Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele revealed “Whoever provides the world’s seeds controls the world’s food supply” (165). Congress and seeds industries like Monsanto should not have the power to change the farming policies. The ancient farming practices of saving seeds from season to season is diminishing due to farmers buying seeds from Monsanto. Monsanto prohibits farmers to save seeds from their harvest and replant those seeds. Monsanto’s genetically modified (G.M.) seeds, that resist to its

Monsanto and farmers who apply dicamba on dicamba resistant soybeans filed suit against the Arkansas State Plant Board claiming dicamba was being governed by an unfair standard. Approximately 25 million dicamba resistant crops were planted in 2017 with a two-fold increase expected next year. Accordingly, dicamba and the dicamba resistant crops is a large profit maker for Monsanto which obviously wants to protect and offer to Arkansas farmers. Farmers who plant the dicamba resistant crops want access to the weed killer to control weeds that other herbicides fail to control. Both claim that the Arkansas Plant Board has overstepped their authority and are preventing Arkansas farmers a technological advantage that farmers in other states possess.

If one company owned an entire food crop, it would result in a huge profit of money for that company. However, it would also result in destroying the tradition of farming for farmers and their families. A primary reason why companies would want to own an entire food crop is because they will make a lucrative amount of money. A statistic involving this is stated by www.not-gmoreport.com, “ The cost for Monsanto’s Roundup Ready 2 soybeans in 2010 was $70 per bag, a 143% increase in the price of GM seed since 2001.” This inflation is called seed monopoly. One reason people strongly dislike seed monopoly is because of the way it affects not only farmers, but also the consumers. Farmers will have to pay more money for seeds, which will eventually

Biotech companies including Monsanto do not allow the farmers to reuse seeds from their own crops. These companies have put a patent on these seeds and plants, a patent on actually life. They own the living organism.

We then discover that it has been legal to patent life since the 1980s, and learn about the company Monsanto’s round up resistant soybean that now makes up 90% of the soybean market. Monsanto

Companies, like Monsanto will come after small farms and sue them for more than they can pay if they find out they are using even a small portion of GM crops in their fields, even if by accident” (Fitzgerald). Approximately 2,400 farmers in 19 states through 2006 were sued and spied upon for alleged “seed piracy”, Monsanto has an annual budget of $10 million dollars and a staff of 75 devoted solely to investigating and prosecuting farmers who are caught with different seed. (Monsanto).

Monsanto is a Saint Louis Chemical manufacturer that is a major player in the weed killing business. Monsanto has quite a portentous past. They developed and produced the notorious defoliant "Agent Orange" used in the Vietnam War, they invented the controversial recombinant Bovine Growth Hormone (rBGH), and they were the inventors and world’s main producer of

The class discussion for this week is about our first case review concerning Monsanto. Monsanto is a multinational corporation that has had a lot of legal issues and poor decisions made since its inception in 1901. The company’s name has been tarnished multiple times and after each occurrence it seems as if their solution is to change the company focus and alter their name. Despite the lawsuits and settlements, Monsanto continues to be a profitable company. They have switched focus yet again to biotechnology and genetically modified plant seeds. Per the case review, they are the world’s largest seed company, handle over $11.5 billion in sales, and hold a 70-100% market share on crops.

Additionally, big business controls the farmers by capitalizing on widely used commodities. For example, the company Monsanto which is based in St. Louis, Missouri protects its dominance over the genetically modified crops such as the soy bean with the use of a patent law. Because of this, Monsanto’s patented genes “account for 95 percent of all soy beans and 80 percent of all corn grown in the U.S.,” (Associated Press). Although genetically modifying the soy bean crop has made it more readily available and more sustainable, this comes at a high price to farmers. Monsanto continues to raise their prices, which forces farmers to accrue even more debt, and there is no sign of the rise in the seed prices stopping. Since a lot of the farmers are under contract with Monsanto, there is nothing they can do about this unethical policy in fear of losing their job.