Comment Re:I still think this guy should countersue . . . (Score 1) 308
im not sure if the "kill-bit" was never used or got "broken" but the problem is that this seed CAN BE PLANTED and PRODUCES FERTILE SEED.
I seem to recall that when roundup-ready soybeans (or quite possibly I'm thinking of another variety) appeared on the market, it had the infertile seeds as a way to force farmers to buy new seed every year. It seems that this is no longer the case or I am thinking of another roundup-ready crop.
so you can have an RR crop five miles down the road blow pollen into YOUR very carefully CERTIFIED ORGANIC/NONGMO crop and then your entire field is ruined.
If an organic farmer is located relatively close to a conventional farmer with GMO crops and they take no precautions about contamination which leads to a not-certified organic crop, it's their own fault. Similarly for a conventional farmer being contaminated by an organic crop which leads to decreased yields - it's their own fault. Contamination between nearby fields is to be expected, and if it something a farmer wants to avoid, they need to take action to stop it. If contamination happens over a larger distance than can be reasonably expected, it's not the farmers fault, but is the result and fault of unexpected weather, which isn't the contaminating farmer's fault either.
And the organic crop, while ruined in the sense that it is no longer organic, is not ruined in the sense of total desolation. The farmer still has a crop they can sell (and because of the GMO influence it probably will have higher yields), they just can't sell it at the higher organic rate. And if it is economically worthwhile for them to grow organic crops, they have an economic incentive to take steps to prevent contamination. If it is too expensive to prevent that, and they will not relocate, it may no longer be economically feasible for them to attempt to raise organic crops.