Farmers Are Suing Monsanto!

Like food? Alright! Let's help our farmers get HEALTHY - non-GMO!-- food to our table! These guys need all the assistance they can get. I don't have much money in my PayPal account but every dime is going to them tonight. I hope all my Readers donate at least a few dollars, too. This is an issue which affects all of us in a very basic way. 

Family Farmers to Travel to Washington, D.C.  

to Take on Monsanto

Image Source

Activist Post,

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Dozens of family farmers, Plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association et al v. Monsanto, will travel from across America to Washington, D.C. next week to take on Monsanto and demand the right to farm. They will attend the January 10th Oral Argument in the Appeal of Dismissal to be aired before the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. A Citizen's Assembly in support of family farmers at 10am in Lafayette Square will coincide with the beginning of the Oral Argument inside the court room.
"Our farmers want nothing to do with Monsanto," declared Maine certified organic seed farmer, Jim Gerritsen, President of lead Plaintiff Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association. "We are not customers of Monsanto. We don't want their seed. We don't want their gene-spliced technology. We don't want their trespass onto our farms. We don't want their contamination of our crops. We don't want to have to defend ourselves from aggressive assertions of patent infringement because Monsanto refuses to keep their pollution on their side of the fence. We want justice."
Many farmers have been forced to stop growing certain crops to avoid genetic contamination and potential lawsuits from Monsanto. This case challenges the validity of Monsanto's genetically engineered seed patents and seeks Court protection for family farmers who, through no fault of their own, may have become contaminated by Monsanto's patented seed and find themselves accused of patent infringement.
Monsanto filed 144 lawsuits against America's family farmers and settled another 700 out of court between 1997 and 2010. These aggressive lawsuits have created an atmosphere of fear in rural America and driven dozens of farmers into bankruptcy.

"The District Court erred when it denied the organic seed plaintiffs the right to seek protection from Monsanto's patents," said attorney Dan Ravicher of the not-for-profit Public Patent Foundation "At the oral argument on January 10, we will explain to the Court of Appeals the District Court's errors and why the case should be reinstated."
A Citizen's Assembly In Support of Family Farmers is scheduled for 10am in Lafayette Square on Thursday, January 10. Family farmers, their lawyers, and supporters will join after the hearing to explain why they traveled thousands of miles to protect their farms and communities.
"Farmers have planted and saved seeds for more than 10,000 years without interruption until Monsanto's genetically engineered seeds entered the market in 1996. Almost immediately Monsanto began a campaign of harassment against America's farmers, trespassing on their land and launching frivolous patent infringement lawsuits," said Dave Murphy, founder and executive director of Food Democracy Now!. "It's time to end Monsanto's campaign of fear against America's farmers and stand up for farmers' right to grow our food without legal threats and intimidation."
The lawsuit was originally filed in March 2011 by a large group of 83 Plaintiffs, which included individual family farmers, independent seed companies and farm organizations, whose memberships total over 300,000 individuals. The case was dismissed in February 2012 by Federal Judge Naomi Buchwald who ruled that the farmers lacked standing.
Lawyers from the Public Patent Foundation representing the farmers have identified numerous reversible legal and factual errors committed by the judge, which they assert caused her to mistakenly dismiss the case and have filed a powerful appeal brief with the court. Amici briefs in support of the Plaintiffs have been filed by a group of eleven prominent law professors and by a group of fourteen non-profit agricultural and consumer organizations.
OSGATA has established a Farmer Travel Fund to provide travel assistance to Plaintiff farmers for the case. Donations can be made here:  www.osgata.org/support-osgata/.

About OSGATA: The Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association is a not-for-profit agricultural organization made up of organic farmers, seed growers, seed businesses and supporters. OSGATA is committed to developing and protecting organic seed and its growers in order to ensure the organic community has access to excellent quality organic seed free of contaminants and adapted to the diverse needs of local organic agriculture. www.osgata.org

Monsanto's Going Down!

I never thought I'd be relieved a farmer's crops were dying but this is good news indeed! 

Nature May Soon Overcome Monsanto as ‘Super Rootworms’ Destroy Crops

Anthony Gucciardi
Activist Post,

Thursday, June 28, 2012

What will be the end of Monsanto? Could it be lawsuits, new legislation, or perhaps even a tiny insect that is less than 0.10 mm in length.

A new report reveals that rootworms may ultimately be what ends Monsanto’s crops, despite the biotech giant’s rampant success within the United States legislative system. 

Amazingly, western corn rootworms have virtually no problem gobbling up Monsanto’s modified maize crop, as they have developed a serious resistance to the very crops designed to kill them. So much so that these little critters are outpacing Monsanto’s top scientists.

To make matters worse for the company, the resistant rootworms are maturing earlier than expected this year. And with the enhanced growth has come enhanced birth rates, with the bug’s larvae hatching the earliest in decades. 

Monsanto, of course, is absolutely defenseless against the resistant rootworms which have adapted to their biopesticide known as Bt. At least 8 populations of insects have developed resistance, with 2 populations resistant to Bt sprays and at least 6 species resistant to Bt crops as a whole. The answer? Use even more intelligence-crushing pesticides.

Rootworms, Nature Overcome Monsanto’s GMO Crops

It is for this reason that the EPA has warned in the past that Monsanto’s crops will soon be ravaged by the insects. In their report on the subject, the EPA states:

"Monsanto’s program for monitoring suspected cases of resistance is ‘inadequate’."

The statements have been reinforced by another group of concerned scientists. A body of 22 academic corn experts voiced serious concerns over GMO crop failures back in March, warning that a collapse of the GMO corn industry may soon follow — a particularly mighty prediction when considering that 94 percent of the US supply is currently of the genetically modified variety. It is also important to consider that much of the corn is not used for food, but for biodiesel purposes.

Will nature adapt to Monsanto’s genetically modified creations and lead to their downfall in the end? 

Time and time again researchers and agricultural professionals have been calling upon Monsanto and the United States government to return to traditional and sustainable farming practices — even citing the fact that Monsanto’s GMOs produce even less yield. 

Instead, the modified crops have overtaken much of the food supply. Now, in the face of collapse, the only answer provided by Monsanto is to drench crops in even more pesticides and modify their genetic coding to an even greater degree.

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Awww.. poor Bill Gates and the rest of that pack of rats in Monsanto. 

And here's even more good news!  America's Farmers Fight Monsanto's Scorched Earth Legal Campaign Of Threats And Intimidation

 Monsanto is getting the crap kicked out of them in court. Farmers are not giving up the tradition of growing heirloom seeds because they're the best and most reliable. But when planted within 15 miles of a GMO crop these farmers are finding their own crops are being contaminated during pollination, thus genetically modifying their own crops. Monsanto sues the FARMERS for 'patent infringement' when their non-GMO crops suddenly become GMO. How asshat backwards is that? Monsanto doesn't control pollination- the winds and insects do. 

So when the farmers sue for their crops being damaged what does Monsanto do? File a countersuit for patent infringement, and that's only if their 'seed police' don't get to the farmer first to sue them initially. 

I give it five years. Monsanto will have killed every major crop here in the USA and yes, it's going to kill our wallets for a while until the new Dustbowl settles, but at least we'll be back to farming more naturally. Then maybe Roundup will be outlawed, too! 

Neem oil has been used for hundreds and hundreds of years in Asia for pesticide. It works and it does not harm the plants, humans, or the environment. We need to get back to truly organic farming.