I came across an article describing a recent legal battle between a collective of organic farmers and the GMO crop king, Monsanto. It seems as though the organic farmers (let's call them OFs for short) were trying to receive a ruling that would prevent Monsanto from suing them if their crops contained some of Monsanto's GMO crop traits (due to cross pollination of the GMOs and the organic crops). The judge ruled instead that their claim was unsubstantiated, and overstated Monsanto's sue-happy nature (based off the current opinion that they are a patent bully). The story goes on to mention that most organic crops have 0.5-2% GMO due to such cross pollination, and that OF's view this as damaging to the value of their crops, that they may be sued for not paying for the rights to have their whopping 0.5-2%, and fear that organic farming is in jeopardy as a whole because of it.
Most companies, especially those who are patent bullies, are out for money. That is what motivated most companies after all. That being said, it would stand to reason that if a company is going to invest the time and money to pursue legal action, they would do so where their profits are maximized. This probably isn't going to be against an OF who happens to accidentally have 0.5-2% GMO on their field due to GMO crops spewing their pollen across the land. It's probably instead going to be against someone who blatantly is infringing the patents of [insert company here] by using their GMO without paying for them. This seems all too familiar with the panicked response to the health care law being considered regarding nursing. A law or ruling meant to pursue actual offenders, but because it's a legal ruling or a law, everyone who fears the new world order now thinks Big Brother is breathing directly down their neck. It should be monitored to make sure that these companies don't overstep their boundaries and go after someone for nothing, but they also shouldn't be prevented from protecting their own intellectual property. Everything should be balanced, not one polar extreme or another as so many hardcore right-wing and left-wing individuals seem to think. This is the real world after all, and the last time I checked it exists in many shades of gray, not black and white, or red and blue.
As far as the whole threat to organic farming as a whole is concerned, that's another issue all together. They could always set up some sort of air flow or filter devices to minimize dispersion of pollen. Or revert to green houses on a large scale format. There's always the idea of hydroponics as well, or even (my favorite) the farming skyscrapers that are being developed that feature multiple levels of organic hydroponic farms with sophisticated drip systems. Of course all of those options would increase the cost of any crop you implement them on. Then again, organic produce is already over priced like hell, so what harm would another price gauge do? People will pay for it after all.
Most companies, especially those who are patent bullies, are out for money. That is what motivated most companies after all. That being said, it would stand to reason that if a company is going to invest the time and money to pursue legal action, they would do so where their profits are maximized. This probably isn't going to be against an OF who happens to accidentally have 0.5-2% GMO on their field due to GMO crops spewing their pollen across the land. It's probably instead going to be against someone who blatantly is infringing the patents of [insert company here] by using their GMO without paying for them. This seems all too familiar with the panicked response to the health care law being considered regarding nursing. A law or ruling meant to pursue actual offenders, but because it's a legal ruling or a law, everyone who fears the new world order now thinks Big Brother is breathing directly down their neck. It should be monitored to make sure that these companies don't overstep their boundaries and go after someone for nothing, but they also shouldn't be prevented from protecting their own intellectual property. Everything should be balanced, not one polar extreme or another as so many hardcore right-wing and left-wing individuals seem to think. This is the real world after all, and the last time I checked it exists in many shades of gray, not black and white, or red and blue.
As far as the whole threat to organic farming as a whole is concerned, that's another issue all together. They could always set up some sort of air flow or filter devices to minimize dispersion of pollen. Or revert to green houses on a large scale format. There's always the idea of hydroponics as well, or even (my favorite) the farming skyscrapers that are being developed that feature multiple levels of organic hydroponic farms with sophisticated drip systems. Of course all of those options would increase the cost of any crop you implement them on. Then again, organic produce is already over priced like hell, so what harm would another price gauge do? People will pay for it after all.
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