Monsanto VS Percy

[countryguy]

It is irrelivent whether Percy actually planted the seed or not.What he is doing is trying to defend us against something that could affect each and every one of us at some point in our farming careers.

It is a proven fact that the stuff DOES cross pollinate and get mixed into non RR seedstock.What would it be for Monsanto to start coming after us when they start finding their technology in our fields that we never used their product on?

Give the 73 year old man some credit.He is trying to prove a very valid point.I think he has more balls than most of us.

[frustrated1]

we bought a swather from percy's neighbour who says he's guilty as sin. not only planted the brown bag but also bought the glyphosate to spray it with. told us old percy is living better off the money people and organizations send in for his "big fight" than he ever would farming. is this sour g****s or reality? there is still a difference between contamination and seeding. contamination occurs along roads and fencelines, not evenly across the entire quarter section. i have no love for monsanto either but i don't think percy's case is doing anything for the rest of us, might even harm our hopes for fighting real cases in the future.

[Freesaw]

I have RR canola and clearfield canola spread across my whole farm and havent grown canola ever, Its costing me more money to control these weeds in my lentils and peas. I think Percy is doing a good thing.

[frustrated1]

i agree freesaw, there are problems. we have a neighbour in the same plight as yourself. we saw it in our fields 2 years ago in the drought when we quit spraying. come fall most of the fields were yellow. we however do use a lot of rr canolas. but lets fight the fights that are true fights such as yours, we can only win if we keep things honest.

[lornej]

good point frustrated 1 - I've been conversing with a Percy sympathiser and I think that there is some kind of Green organization that is behind this whole courtcase that has an axe to grind with the likes of Monsanto . I remember when we first started growing ****seed in the late sixties it was considered to be nothing but a damn weed then too - but we learned how to deal with it by proper crop rotation and herbicide useage .

[plato]

I think Percy's hands are dirty but agree with the principal of his fight.
I have a relative who paid his TUA to Monsanto and grew a quarter of RR canola. The canola was harvested that fall. The following spring he went to check the quarter and noticed a pretty good crop of volunteer canola growing and decided to let it stand and see if it would produce another crop. It turns out the volunteer canola crop looked pretty good so he gave it his first spraying with round up to control the wild oats.Wanting to be honest about the whole thing he contacted Monsanto, told them his story and that he wanted to pay the TUA on the volunteer canola.
Monsanto informed him that the canola seed he grew last year and paid the TUA on was his,but the volunteer canola that was growing the following spring was the property of Monsanto so no TUA would be excepted. Monsanto then told him to destroy the volunteer crop or appropriate legal action would be taken. He complied and destroyed the crop. Maybe he could have challenged Monsanto and told them to get their property off of his land .But it all takes money and its probably pretty tough fighting Monsantos "snake shaped" Lawyers

[lornej]

Plato - why do you suppose Monsanto wouldn't simply charge the TUA and allow the crop to be harvested - did they give a reason ?

[frustrated1]

i too had some volunteer rr canola i suggested i leave for the next year and had asked about paying the tua. volunteer left from silaging in the drought. i figured since i had yet to take a crop to seed it should be fine. monsanto said i couldn't do that but gave no satisfactory explantion. i suggested to them that since they weren't letting me grow it that it was thier responsibility to supply spray to rid me of the stuff. weren't jumping up and down on that either. these are the ligitimate kinds of battles old percy should be fighting. i also agree with the principle of his fight but when it seems he's purposely seeded it we're not going to win. look at the commotion over rr canola. can you imagine the wrecks once we throw rr wheat into the equation? as much as i'm a user and big fan of the rr tool in our crop rotations i think we need to take a hard look at where some of these problems are heading.

[plato]

Lornej- To my knowledge no appropriate reason was given, but I could speculate a bit. If monsanto would have accepted the TUa they would still be out the price of the seed it would normaly take to produce this crop.Maybe the biggest reason of all is Monsanto has to show us farmers that they are in control and must play by there rules. If monsanto releases RR wheat it could be the farm industries Pandoras box.. Could overshadow BSE in no time.

[johnnytill]

Hello everybody!Wake up and smell the chemical or the coffee.There is something new out there.It is called management and includes chemical rotation....

[countryguy]

Management is a new thing?Funny how many farmers have made it this far on pure luck...

Give me one good reason Johnny why a farmer should have to spend extra money controlling a weed,which is technically property of someone else when they have never used the technology and never suspected they would have this problem.

[lornej]

C'mon countryguy , I farmed for twenty years before I saw my first thistle plant . I didn't point fingers at anyone for introducing this weed into our community - its just a hazard of the industry - you know that it is inevitable but you have to roll with the punches and find a way to make it work . I would much rather have RR canola on my field as a weed than cleavers or thistle ! At least RR canola only takes a little sniff of phenoxy to take it out .

[countryguy]

Don't get me wrong guys,in the beginning I didn't but now I use and actually like the technology.It has a real fit on our farm.I don't like being restricted the next year in cropping options as with clearfield or conventional canola grown with edge etc and I haven't yet found a liberty link variety that I am truly happy with.

My whole gripe with Monsanto is that those weeds growing in YOUR field is property of them.You can't say that about any other weed in your field.That canada thistle may be there but she belongs to you!

I feel that after you pay them to use their technology,buy their seed and spray it with their chemical you should be done with them.And further more people who have decided not to use monsantos technology should not have to deal with monsantos possessions growing in their fields,no matter how little the cost of controlling them.

Maybe this cold weather is affecting my brain but that's the way I see the situation.

[lornej]

Only those producers that are brown-bagging the seed need to lose sleep at night worrying if Monsanto is going to put them on their black list . Monsanto isn't worried about a little volunteer canola escapes - if the grower is following a proper crop rotation and is using proper crop husbandry , the volunteers will not pose a problem . Spray your field the year after the RR variety is grown and treat it like you would any volunteer canola -presto , no problem !

[lakenheath]

RR wheat is whole different story with vastly different implications. First the destruction of the industry. Secondly the management crisis. Volunteer canola, yes easy to manage (squirt of phenoxy). But how do you burn-off RR wheat before seeding? So much for $3.50/acre pre-seed burn-off.