Monsanto Patenting Policy

The social and environmental interests are not adequately accounted for. By putting patents on their seeds, farmers are forced to buy new seeds each year. In India most farmers have to take out loans to be able to afford seeds and they are not protected by government subsidies. The weather has a huge influence on their income and unpredictable weather can wipe out their entire crop, whereas in the past these farmers would save their seeds as an insurance policy against the weather but now Monsanto does not allow them to do this. The Indian government directly links the introduction of Monsanto’s GM seeds as the root cause behind the sharp increase in farmer suicides. The Indian farmers are figuring out that the biotechnology revolution has a huge effect on their crop lands and personal debt levels. This all started in 1998 when the World Bank underwent structural adjustments and changed some of their policies which forced India to open up its seed sector to global corporations like Monsanto, Cargill and Syngenta (www.counterpunch.org., 2016). These global corporations changed India’s agricultural economy because Monsanto’s seeds require Monsanto fertilizers and pesticides which adds costs on top of being unable to save seeds. Monsanto does not meet the characteristics of this paradigm with the lack of social and environmental responsibility due to the corporations’ business structure and board intentions.

Personally, I believe that seeds, no matter how scientifically manipulated, should be considered technology. “Seed priming is defined as controlling hydration level within seeds so that the metabolic activity necessary for germination can occur” (Maiti, 2011). Monsanto does have moral obligations to farmers and consumers to make its seeds available at prices affordable to even the poorest of farmers. According to CEO, Hugh Grant, Monsanto could not exist without farmers. They are our customers-the lifeblood of our company. Traditionally, farmers save seeds from one year to plant in the next year, but Monsanto wanted to force farmers to purchase new seeds from the company every year. “By issuing new seeds each year, Monsanto ensures it will secure a profit as well as maintain control over its intellectual property” (Ferrell & Hartline, 2014).

Monsanto has a patent on the genetically engineered seed, and strictly limit farmers in how they use the see. Farmers are not allowed to harvest the seeds for future use, and must purchase new seeds each year. Most farmers feel that this gives Monsanto too much power and control. If farmers deter from the Monsanto policies they feel bullied by the investigators that come to the farm. Farmers have accused Monsanto of unethical practices in order to get the farmers to participate in their plan. Farmers have unknowingly replanted seed that occurred from cross pollination and have replanted the seed which is not allowed. In Bowman vs. Monsanto, the court upheld that the patent exhaustion does not apply to self-replicating technology. Monsanto sued Mr. Bowman for cross pollination and won. In this situation, secondary stakeholders were involved (Haugo, 2015). Government and regulatory entities are considered secondary stakeholders since they do not typically engage in transactions with a company and are not essential to their futures (Ferrell, Fraedrich, Ferrell,

For those perhaps unaware, Monsanto was founded in 1901 and ever since has been taking the agricultural world by storm. Monsanto was one of the very first corporations to successfully incorporate biotechnology into their business model. It is believed that the root of their controversy is surrounded by the company’s changes in direction, which shifted from pharmaceutical chemicals to applying biotechnology to crops. Since the corporation became involved with agriculture, we have seen a shift

However, opponents argue that the uncertainty of the risks associated with increased consumption and marketing of GMOs can lead to severe health and environmental impacts in the future. Further, there is an ongoing debate as to whether or not multi-national corporations should be allowed to privatize and patent crop seeds on a global level. An example of this is the biotech corporation, Monsanto. Monsanto is opprobriously known for producing genetically-engineered products, and using Intellectual Property Rights to its advantage in order to monopolize crop seeds. Opponents view this as a way for industry to hijack a global common or a public good, which includes any type of food source or seed of a crop. This monopolization has led the

Monsanto’s Monopoly Over Genetically Modified Crops Monopolies are established in certain industries when one firm controls the market of a product that cannot be differentiated. In today’s economy, monopolies can be found in various industries, including within the seed industry. Monsanto is an agricultural giant that creates genetically modified seeds and crop protection products (Monsanto Company, 2017a). Though Monsanto is not the only firm in the seed industry, it is a monopoly in the genetically modified seed and crop protection industry. Monsanto is the leading firm in GMO foods and crops because of their many patents on their products and technology.

“The objective of Monsanto is to make money, not about the quality of food that people are eating. Their objective is not to protect life, or protect the environment. When people like me say these types of seeds are poisonous and destroying the life of the land, and destroying the life of people, that’s when I am attack the interest of Monsanto. They say they have a gift for you, it’s a gift to kill you; because for us, the seed is something

This ensures that each farmer will buy the next year’s seeds and Monsanto will make money. The question is: what makes Monsanto’s seeds so valuable that they need their growers to sign a contract? Other than the fact that their seeds are genetically modified, the most plausible solution is that Monsanto inserts resistance to Roundup, their herbicide product, in their seeds. This ensures that farmers will also buy their pesticide. Even though this seems convenient for farmers, it does not go unpaid for. As a way to sidestep the pricey seeds and pesticide, Mr. Bowman bought seeds from a separate seller for a second crop later in the growing season. He argued later that since these seeds were purchased for a separate crop, outside of the one he signed a contract for, that he did not understand why Monsanto claims patent infringement. He grew his separately purchased soybeans, which, by luck, already possessed the Roundup resistant gene. When Monsanto caught wind of what Mr. Bowman had been doing, they sued him for over $84,000. After Mr. Bowman appealed, the case made it all the way to the Supreme Court where the Justices sided with Monsanto. They declared that Mr. Bowman made “additional patented soybeans without Monsanto’s permission” (Liptak). Mr. Bowman used the seeds that he purchased to yield eight successful crops. However, he did admit that he

The green revolution is focusing how to increase the quantity without considering the quality. The use of technology in the agriculture sector is considering as good idea to improve the quantity and create resistant plant. Monsanto is one of the multinational cooperation in United State who is working in the agricultural field. With their expert in genetically engineering towards the corn, transgenic plants they can produce a lot of agriculture in short period time. This is so controversy between the scientist and farmer; they produce terminator seed that can only use once so that the farmer cannot safe and use the seed for next cultivation. Our daily cereal such as kellogs corn flake are the product of Monsanto seed, it is good for health or not, people do not know because of the advertisement keep persuading people to purchase it. Green revolution can save the world from starvation, but they give negative impact toward the environment because the use uncontrolled pesticide. Thus, the best solution is changing our mind that actually green revolution is not the only way to save the world from starvation, rather than destroy the environment and the biodiversity. The cooperation should control the use of pesticide and the safety of transgenic seed, so that both things are not giving the environment

Monsanto is today a well-known company, and have both been commended and condemned for what they accomplished as a firm. Expanding the production into industrial chemicals has met a lot of criticism throughout the years (Monsanto Company, 2015). At the same time, in 2014 they were able to increase crop yields by 22 percent, reduce pesticide use by 37 percent, and increase farmer profits by 68 percent. (Bennett, 2014). Meaning, they have managed to use technology that allows developing countries to use less resources and to create even higher crop yields (English, 2014). However, it has been achieved on the expense of a controversial product, which is a major subject in todays view on how to maintain a sustainable environment, namely the genetically

In 1901, a small company named Monsanto made its mark in the chemical industry with the development of saccharine, the popular artificial sweetener. One hundred and thirteen years later, Monsanto is now the world leader in genetically modified organisms (GMOs). With over 1,767 seed and plant patents, they are one of the largest food and agriculture companies in the world (“U.S.”). Monsanto exemplifies the worst type of corporate conglomeration by producing toxic substances, creating questionably safe food products, and monopolizing the farming industry.

According to Jonathan Foley, GMO efforts may have started with good intentions, but ended in crops that were better at improving profits. GMO companies had a good idea to begin with but soon became money hungry and forgot about the true intentions they once had (Ostrander 25). There are 6 major GMO corporations that control the input in our agriculture, and according the Organic Research Foundation only 2% of the U.S. food supply is grown using organic methods (OFRF 5). Worldwide, 282 million acres are planted using Monsanto’ s patented seeds. This translates into an eighty percent control of the GM corn market and ninety-three percent control of the GM soybean. Monsanto has vigorously enforced its patent rights, ensuring its patented technology is maintained within the bounds of licensing agreements (Sabrina Wilson 124).

This is a multinational, biochemical and biotechnological company whose headquarters are in St. Louis, Missouri. It’s a company that deals with vast research, and development of GMO products. Monsanto’s current operation of attaining biological rights is considered as a very big threat to the farmers who have majorly developed similar products. The main controversy is the fact that in the year 2014, Monsanto made a net sale of $10.75 billion dollars which included cotton, soybean, vegetables, seeds and fruits (Young, 2011).

One cannot have a conversation about GMOs without talking about Monsanto. Monsanto was founded in 1901 but has not become a big factor until fairly recently. As previously mentioned, Monsanto genetically modifies their seeds to resist the effects of Roundup, they do this to many seeds but mainly corn. The corn crops have been putting many small farmers out of business because of one smart adjustment that Monsanto has done to the corn’s DNA. They made it so that the plants do not reproduce (Bawa and Anilakumar). This makes it so that farmers who use GMOs have to go out and buy new seeds every year, and this gets very expensive. On top of this, the farmers need to buy Roundup and other resources. Interestingly enough, the farmers lose money every year at harvest time (Bawa and Anilakumar). One may be prompted to ask, how do the farmers stay in business? The only way that the farmers make money is because corn is subsidized by the government, this is how the farmers make their money. The farmers who do not use GMOs end up most of the time going

“Prosperous farmers mean more employment, more prosperity for the workers and the business men of every industrial area in the whole country.”- Franklin D. Roosevelt. The world’s largest seed company, with sales over $10.5 billion is Monsanto. Monsanto specializes in biotechnology, or genetic modification. Scientist modify crop seeds to better suite environmental needs, provide a higher crop yield, and to create resistance to insects. These seeds are modified to withstand weeks of droughts, deter weeds from growing, and to kill insects that may harm the functionality of the crop. Corn, cotton, soybeans, and canola are the main seeds modified and produced by Monsanto. Approximately 90% of the world’s genetically modified seeds are sold by Monsanto. (Ferrel, Fraedrich, & Ferrell, 2013)