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A mix-up over bioengineered tomato seeds sparked fears about spread of GMO crops

A disturbing bit of news to go to sleep by

'Monsanto Protection Act': 5 Terrifying Things To Know About The HR 933 Provision

The "Monsanto Protection Act" is the name opponents of the Farmer Assurance Provision have given to this terrifying piece of policy, and it's a fitting moniker given its shocking content.

President Barack Obama signed a spending bill, HR 933, into law on Tuesday that includes language that has food and consumer advocates and organic farmers up in arms over their contention that the so-called "Monsanto Protection Act" is a giveaway to corporations that was passed under the cover of darkness.

I hope he wins

Indiana soybean farmer sees Monsanto lawsuit reach US supreme court: Who controls the rights to the seeds planted in the ground? A 75-year-old farmer takes the agricultural giant to court to find out

The legal saga revolves around Monsanto's aggressive protection of its soybean known as Roundup Ready, which have been genetically engineered to be resistant to its Roundup herbicide or its generic equivalents. When Bowman – or thousands of other farmers just like him – plant Monsanto's seeds in the ground they are obliged to only harvest the resulting crop, not keep any of it back for planting the next year. So each season, the farmer has to buy new Monsanto seeds to plant.

However, farmers are able to buy excess soybeans from local grain elevators, many of which are likely to be Roundup Ready due to the huge dominance Monsanto has in the market. Indeed in Indiana it is believed more than 90% of soybeans for sale as "commodity seeds" could be such beans, each containing the genes Monsanto developed.

Bowman, who has farmed the same stretch of land for most of the past four decades and grew up on a farm, ended up on Monsanto's radar for using such seeds – bought from a local grain elevator, rather than Monsanto – for year after year and replanting part of each crop. He did not do so for his main crop of soybeans, but rather for a smaller "second late season planting" usually planted on a field that had just been harvested for wheat. "We have always had the right to go to an elevator, buy some 'junk grain' and use it for seed if you desire," Bowman said.

To put it mildly, Monsanto disagrees. The firm insists that it maintains patent rights on its genetically modified seeds even if sold by a third party with no restrictions put on its use – even if the seeds are actually only descendants of the original Monsanto seeds. To that end it sued Bowman, eventually winning a legal settlement of some $84,456 (£53,500) against him for infringing the firm's patent rights. Monsanto says that if it allowed Bowman to keep replanting his seeds it would undermine its business model, endangering the expensive research that it uses to produce advanced agricultural products.

Home for a little while

I stayed at work a little late because I have an appointment at 1 pm Friday with a podiatrist, so I'll have to leave early. I want to make sure I get in all my time.

I'm cooking spinach artichoke bites for dinner, so I thought I'd blog a little.

Today was dreary, but we need the rain desperately, since we're in a drought. Did you know one part of Antarctica gets 4 inches of precipitation a year? Yes, I'm researching a little for the game, since my character's supposed to survive in the conditions there. They're going in the summer, but it's a long campaign; who knows how long it will take. Wikipedia was very helpful. There was:

Antarctica
Communication in Antarctica
McMurdo Station (the main American research area you go to before moving on somewhere in the interior). It's the logistics base for half the continent.

Did you know whole families live in Antarctica, and the children go to school at the stations? I think those are mostly the South American stations, but still, how cool is that? Can you imagine being transferred back home, going to school, and telling them you'd come from Antarctica? I wonder if they have libraries? Not that I'm volunteering for the cold, mind you. I don't even want to live in the northern US. Okay, maybe New England or even Seattle, but not the northern Midwest. I keep my options with Canada open just because I think they're saner than Americans sometimes, though I wouldn't really like the weather in the winter.

The spinach artichoke bites are really good--they smell and taste a little sweet. The only drawback is that you're not supposed to microwave them, so I had to bake them for 20 minutes. But yum! They're by Morningstar Farms (which uses GMO ingredients. I didn't know that. That's a little disturbing. I have mixed feelings on genetically modifying plants and animals for food.