Feisty farmer fights for farmer's rights

The David against Monsanto's Goliath

Last Saturday, spud! proudly sponsored a food event in support of a 79 year old farmer named Percy Schmeiser who has spent more than a decade fighting to protect his rights and the rights of all farmers to own their own seed.     Over 120 people attended the event and we were all eager to hear how one feisty farmer went up against one of the world’s largest agri-businesses, Monsanto, and ultimately won.  We were not disappointed. 

It all began in 1946 when Percy began farming on the Canadian prairies.  In 1952, he got married and his wife, Louise, started doing research on canola seeds.   Locals referred to them as “seed savers” because they would save seeds each year to use to plant the next year’s crop.    They carried on a quite normal farming lifestyle for over 50 years until one fateful day in 1998 when they got a letter in the mail from Monsanto alleging that they may have infringed on Monsanto’s GMO canola seed patent. 

The letter was surprising because they had never purchased any canola seeds from Monsanto nor had they ever been to any Monsanto meeting or met with any Monsanto employee.   The lawsuit contended that, based on samples taken in a ditch by their property, they had somehow acquired Monsanto GMO seed, planted it and grown it without a Monsanto license.  The letter also said that there was 80 to 90% contamination in the ditch. 

Percy and Louise responded by saying that they had never planted Monsanto seeds and that it was Monsanto who was at fault for contaminating their pure canola seeds, which the Schmeisers had been cultivating for 45 years.  They went to provincial court and were shocked when the judge ruled that it does not matter how a farmer’s field is contaminated with a patented seed, if it happens, the patent holder then owns the seed.    This precedent-setting ruling sent shock waves throughout the world because it indicated that the property rights of farmers were clearly secondary to the patent rights of corporations. 

They then went to federal court to appeal the decision, but in an appeal court no new evidence can be introduced.  So even though Monsanto acknowledged that the Schmeisers had never planted their patented seeds,  they lost their case for a second time when a panel of 3 judges upheld the original ruling.   But the Schmeisers refused to give up and decided to go to the Supreme Court.  Fortunately, the Supreme Court agreed to hear their case and they were able to introduce new questions of law such as:  Can living organisms be patented?  Can a farmer’s right to grow their own seeds be protected?  Can farmers have their right to sue be revoked? 

The supreme court ruled 5 to 4 in favour of Percy and Louise. However, there were gasps in the room when the judges ruled that while Monsanto would have to pay their court costs of over $2 million,  the Schmeisers would have to pay their own costs of $400,000. 

Percy told the audience that what really irks him is that, completely opposite to Monsanto’s advertising claims,  since the introduction of GMO seeds, crop yields have decreased (see my blog article from October 31, 2009 for more on this) and chemical use has increased.  Furthermore, the nutritional content of the crops has declined.   So, even though GMO seeds offer no community benefits and possibly significant harm, they have been unleashed on the world with no hope of ever eliminating them. 

What also irked Percy is the bullying tactics used by Monsanto.    He had with him a number of letters that Monsanto sent to farmers, demanding that they pay $100,000 or even $250,00 or they would be taken to court unless they agree to pay a licensing fee of $15 per acre per year in perpetuity and agree to buy all their seed from Monsanto from that point onwards.  He drew a huge laugh from the crowd when he read out a sentence in one of the letters saying that Monsanto will give the farmer a free leather jacket if they let them know of any neighbouring farmers that they think are illegally using Monsanto’s seed without a license.   He said that it was highly ironic to him that one of Monsanto’s advertising brochures asks the question, “Are you ready for all of this?” 

Percy then shared a more recent incident where his wife Louise found some GM canola plants in one of the fields that had not been planted in Canola for over eight years.   They contacted Monsanto and said that they must come and remove each Canola plant by hand.  Monsanto actually agreed to do that but a few days beforehand they received a fax saying that they would only do so if the Schmeisers agreed never to sue Monsanto for any reason for the rest of the lives.  The crowd jumped to their feet with thundering applause when Percy told us what he said to Monsanto:  “We will never give away our freedom of speech to a corporation.” 

Monsanto then said that they would not remove the plants, so Percy and Louise decided to take them to small claims court.  This was a very clever move because it forced the trial to be public and it meant that the Monsanto lawyers were forced to be present at the small claims court.  The Schmeisers paid their friends $640 to help them remove the plants and that was the amount of the claim.   At the small claims court, Monsanto stood up before the judge could make any ruling and said they would agree to pay $660 to settle the matter.  It was a sweet victory for Percy and Louise. 

Percy went on to then talk about the health risks of GMOs.  He told the audience that while many researchers have had health concerns about GMOs, the medical profession had not taken a position.  That all changed in May of 2009 when the  American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) released a position paper saying that “GM foods pose a serious health risk” and calling for a moratorium on GM foods.  In particular, they advocated that children and pregnant women should avoid GM foods. They suggest that there is a clear link between the increasing amount of GM foods that people are consuming and greatly reduced sperm counts (up to 50% less). 

He also said he is very concerned about other crops that are now being contaminated.  He said that flax is now contaminated with GMOs and that, as a result, 80% of flax exports to Europe have been cut off because the European Union has banned GMOs. Two other crops where GM varieties have been introduced in local areas include GM sugar beets and GM alfalfa.  He said that what people don’t realise is that GM plants can cross-contaminate other crops in the same crop Family. For example Canola is in the brassica family, which means that other species in the brassica family like kale and broccoli can eventually become contaminated.  He said, heaven help us, if a GM variety of wheat is released because wheat is in the grass family and cross-contamination would affect a very large variety of crops. 

He concluded his talk by saying that the number one thing we can do as citizens is to demand GMO labelling in North America.  That is what they did in Europe and that led to the banning of GMOs in the European Union.  He said in surveys, over 90% of respondents indicated that they would not buy a GMO product if they knew it was genetically modified.  Percy got a major round of applause when he said “it is a violation of our rights not to know what is in our food.” 

Incidentally, there is a little known way that you can actually tell if a produce item is genetically modified.  Most produce items now have a Price Look-Up (PLU) code.   Because of the European ban on GMOs, all GM crops have a 5 digit code that starts with 8.  You can learn more about PLU codes at plucodes.com.  You will never find such a code on any produce sold at spud! because all our produce is certified organic and you cannot get organic certification for GM crops. 

When Percy finished his talk he received a standing ovation and we all felt a huge amount of gratification for what Percy has done to protect the rights of farmers.  It seems incredible to me that the judges could not see how patently absurd (pardon the pun) it is to say that a farmer does not have a right to plant his own seeds.  To hear Percy in his own words, click here! 

If you agree that GM labelling is important, and you live in Canada, you should send a short personal email or letter to your MP and the Federal Minister for Agriculture  Gerry Ritz.  If you feel the same way and you live  in the US,  contact your Congressional representative and Senators, as well as the US the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.  Percy said that if enough people send letters to political representatives, it will cause them to take action. 

Let’s make it a law to have mandatory labelling on all GM products.