Howfarmers are victims of GM technology… Farmerordered to pay $16,000 for replanting soybeans

TheAssociated Press.
December 2, 2002
Farmer ordered to pay $16,000 for replanting soybeans
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill.

A federal jury here has ordered a Massac County farmer to pay Monsanto Co.$16,000 in damages for replanting some genetically engineered soybeans.

Eugene Stratemeyer said he didn't know he was in trouble with the agribusinessgiant until U.S. marshals showed up at his farm near Metropolis two years agoand confiscated his soybean seeds. The ensuing legal battle in U.S. DistrictCourt pitted biotechnology law against time-honored farming practices.

St. Louis-based Monsanto obtained an injunction against Stratemeyer afterdetermining that he had saved Roundup Ready soybeans, a genetically engineeredsoybean that is resistant to the herbicide Roundup, to replant the next year.

"I didn't know about this at all," Stratemeyer said. "I found outI couldn't replant my own seeds when the marshals showed up on my land andseized my soybeans. The first time I became aware of this was right then when Ifound out about the lawsuit."

Under a technology user's agreement farmers are supposed to sign when theypurchase the seed, they are prohibited from saving seed for replanting or saleto other farmers.

But Stratemeyer, in a countersuit, claimed he never signed such an agreement.

The federal jury found last week that Stratemeyer violated the agreement withMonsanto when he saved and sold the soybeans.

The jurors awarded Monsanto the damages, plus attorneys' fees and costs.

U.S. District Judge Michael Reagan will determine final damages in the caselater this year.

Monsanto sued Stratemeyer to protect its patent on the Roundup Readybiotechnology, Monsanto spokesman Janice Armstrong said, and to ensure allfarmers using Monsanto seeds are playing by the same rules.

But Stratemeyer contends the contract bans a traditional farming practice ofsaving seeds from the harvest for replanting next year and that Monsanto singledhim out because of his stature in the community.

"I definitely feel that they went after me because I was a prominentfarmer. They turned me into the proverbial sacrificial lamb," Stratemeyersaid.

Even though the verdict went against Stratemeyer, his lawyer, Ronald E. Osman,said it still was a victory because the damages awarded were so much less thanMonsanto's request of damages in excess of $800,000.

Testimony during the trial revealed seed dealers commonly sign farmers' names tothe seed contracts, or receipts.

Osman has filed a class-action lawsuit against the seed dealers for forgingfarmers' names on the contracts. That lawsuit, pending in federal court in EastSt. Louis, maintains that seed dealers are agents representing the company.

"We took this thing to trial to expose the forgery on the part ofMonsanto's agents," Osman said. "This is about forgery, plain andsimple."

Monsanto denied the seed dealers operate as their agents. Armstrong said thedealers merely distribute the seed.

The jury refused to award damages to Monsanto for the period before it suedStratemeyer.

Osman, who defended Stratemeyer for free and farms himself in southern Illinois,said the case was important because it demonstrated the conflict between bigcorporations and farming