Five million Brazilian farmers sue Monsanto

Five million Brazilian farmers are locked in a lawsuit with US-based biotech giant Monsanto, suing for as much as 6.2 billion euros. They say that the genetic-engineering company has been collecting royalties on crops it unfairly claims as its own.

The farmers claim that Monsanto unfairly collects exorbitant profits every year worldwide on royalties from "renewal" seed harvests. "Renewal" crops are those that have been planted using seed from the previous year's harvest. While the practice of renewal farming is an ancient one, Monsanto disagrees, demanding royalties from any crop generation produced from its genetically-engineered seed. Because the engineered seed is patented, Monsanto not only charges an initial royalty on the sale of the crop produced, but a continuing 2 per cent royalty on every subsequent crop, even if the farmer is using a later generation of seed.

"Monsanto gets paid when it sell the seeds. The law gives producers the right to multiply the seeds they buy and nowhere in the world is there a requirement to pay (again). Producers are in effect paying a private tax on production," Jane Berwanger, lawyer for the farmers told the Associated Press reports.

http://ronpaulexposed.net/five-million-brazilian-farmers-sue-monsanto/

http://www.rt.com/news/monsanto-brazil-seed-soy-908/

Always like to see Monsanto getting taken to court, but my favorite response to their BS is still the group of farmers that boycotted their seeds altogether.

ugh, people are just going to blow this off because of weed being a nutjob but monsanto really are pretty much bastards.

when crops are transported their seeds fall on other farmers property and spring up, then monsanto sends in investigators who dna test the plants in the ditch at the side of the road and sue the farmers into bankruptcy for not paying to use monsanto products.

they are famous for using this tactic to drive independent farmers out of business.

http://www.dailytech.com/Monsanto+Defeats+Small+Farmers+in+Critical+Bioethics+Class+Action+Suit/article24118.htm

I think they are the one that goes around suing farmers in the US too, for royalties. Their seeds often get carried by the wind and end up pollinating other farms. Not those farmers fault.

when crops are transported their seeds fall on other farmers property and spring up, then monsanto sends in investigators who dna test the plants in the ditch at the side of the road and sue the farmers into bankruptcy for not paying to use monsanto products.

http://www.dailytech.com/Monsanto+Defeats+Small+Farmers+in+Critical+Bioethics+Class+Action+Suit/article24118.htm

Riverwolf007

I did not know about that part; I did know about Monsanto charging for using the seeds during each season.

ugh, people are just going to blow this off because of weed being a nutjob but monsanto really are pretty much bastards.

when crops are transported their seeds fall on other farmers property and spring up, then monsanto sends in investigators who dna test the plants in the ditch at the side of the road and sue the farmers into bankruptcy for not paying to use monsanto products.

they are famous for using this tactic to drive independent farmers out of business.

http://www.dailytech.com/Monsanto+Defeats+Small+Farmers+in+Critical+Bioethics+Class+Action+Suit/article24118.htm

Riverwolf007

Good. Monsanto is a monstrous corporate cartel, one of the worst on the planet.Rhazakna

5,000,000? Jesus, how many farmers are in Brazil?

Good. I'm not a fan of Monsanto.

the number just clicked in my head, holy crap that's a lot of people

Seriously, these farmers shouldn't bite the hand that feeds.

capitalism checks itself.lo_Pine

[QUOTE="lo_Pine"] capitalism checks itself.-Sun_Tzu-

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"][QUOTE="lo_Pine"] capitalism checks itself.cybrcatter

[QUOTE="cybrcatter"]

[QUOTE="-Sun_Tzu-"] lollo_Pine

[QUOTE="sSubZerOo"][QUOTE="surrealnumber5"] let the people free of the absurd IP laws and you would not have this, this is not a result of capitalism lo_Pine

Yes, capitalism is the easiest way to optimize for personal profit (there is a big difference between personal profit and societal benefit, btw, and it is the latter that economies are meant to maximise). Unfortunately for you, however, this is entirely irrelevant to what Subzero said and it is also irrelevant to the fact that Monsanto is attempting to exploit the heck out of any laws its lawyers can get their hands on so that it can steal from its competition, which is nothing more than utterly disgusting and scummy behaviour.