Yesterday, January 10, 2013, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington heard oral arguments in a case brought by the Washington, Maine-based Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association against St. Louis-based Monsanto. It represents a second chance to have their concerns heard.

Arnold Taylor, Chair of the SOD: Organic Agriculture Protection Fund Committee is attending on behalf of OCIA International (a plaintiff in the lawsuit).

Lisa Mumm (representing Mumm’s Sprouting Seeds) and Arnold Taylor (representing Canadian Organic Growers) attended the oral arguments of Monsanto's pre-trial motion to dismiss landmark organic community lawsuit OSGATA et al v.

On March 29, 2011, on behalf of 60 family farmers, seed businesses and organic agricultural organizations, the Public Patent Foundation at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (PUBPAT) filed suit against Monsanto Company to challenge the chemical giant’s patents on genetically modified seed.

The organic plaintiffs were forced to sue pre-emptively to protect themselves from being accused of patent infringement should they ever become contaminated by Monsanto's genetically modified seed.

GMO – perhaps no other acronym incites the ire of organic producers more. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are relentlessly troublesome for organic producers and yet they remain a domineering feature of agribusiness conglomerates. As agriculture becomes increasingly immersed in globalized trade, these conglomerates gain more and more control over the global food system despite their implementation of genetically modified inputs into food production. Indeed over the years GMOs have become a force to be reckoned with. From the contamination of Saskatchewan canola fields to the impending introduction of genetically modified alfalfa, GMOs threaten traditional agriculture and the biodiversity of the land. For centuries, organic farms have controlled the erosion of biodiversity, limiting the negative effects of climate change. Maintaining seed varieties as well as natural (contamination-free) production conditions is essential not only to organic farmers but to the integrity of the global food system as a whole.

Article by Angela Sawatzky