Score One for Monsanto

A Canadian farmer finds himself on the losing end of a legal battle over genetically modified crops.

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Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser has lost his landmark legal battle with chemical giant Monsanto. A federal judge in Saskatoon ruled on Mar. 29 that Schmeiser had violated the company’s property rights by growing and selling a proprietary strain of canola without a license. Schmeiser maintains that he did not do so knowingly. (See the MotherJones.com article “The Trouble with Percy” from December 2000.)

Genetic tests showed that Schmeiser was growing Monsanto’s patented “Roundup Ready” variety, which has been genetically engineered to resist the company’s signature herbicide, Roundup. Schmeiser insists that the seeds landed in his fields by accident; in court, he argued that he hadn’t profited by selling the canola, hadn’t known it was a proprietary strain, and hadn’t wanted it there in the first place.

Under the decision, Schmeiser must pay Monsanto about $15,000 Canadian in licensing costs for using the patented crop on his fields, and up to about $100,000 Canadian for selling the canola crops he harvested. The 70-year-old farmer says he’s already spent $200,000 Canadian — some of it donated to the cause by anti-GMO activists — on the legal feud and now fears he won’t be able to keep his farm.

“It will take totally all of my wife’s and myself’s retirement funds that we’ve worked for all our life,” Schmeiser told reporters after hearing the verdict. In addition, Schmeiser is barred from planting the seeds he’s saved, a farming technique he’s used for decades to refine his crop.

Monsanto representatives said the verdict was fair protection of their patent and would allow them to continue investing time and research to bring new products to market in Canada.

Schmeiser says he’s considering both appealing the verdict and filing a countersuit against Monsanto for polluting his canola’s genetic stock.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

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