Description

Montpelier, VERMONT - Rural Vermont joined as plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against Monsanto Corporation in conjunction with the Public Patent Foundation, NOFA-VT and dozens of other farmers, agricultural businesses and non-profit organizations in the United States and Canada. Combined, all of the plaintiff organizations have over 270,000 members, including thousands of certified organic family farmers.

As a plaintiff, Rural Vermont is preemptively filing this action to protect Vermont farmers from the potential of Monsanto's accusation of patent infringement should Vermont farmers ever become contaminated by the multi-national corporation's genetically modified seeds. This first in the nation lawsuit filed as, Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto, was filed in federal district court in New York and assigned to Judge Naomi Buchwald. The suit addresses the statutory and constitutional implications of granting patents to Monsanto for genetically modified seeds and requests that the court declare these patents invalid.

As an organization, Rural Vermont has been at the forefront of advocating for a sustainable and natural agricultural system. "Monsanto's virtual monopoly on seed production and distribution threatens the existence and livelihood of Vermont's small scale farms," said Jared Carter, Executive Director of Rural Vermont. "Monsanto's history of bullying farmers is not the sort of agricultural system that Vermont was built on and it is time that we stand up to multi-national corporations that are profiteering on the backs of hard working farmers." Carter explains.

Carter adds that, "Rural Vermont is excited to be a part of this action and will continue to use both the legislative process and the courts in order to fight against special interests that have given profiteering multi-nationals like Monsanto the opportunity to exploit farmers." In addition to this case, Rural Vermont continues to monitor the progress of two different bills related to Genetically Modified products already introduced into the Legislature. Due to the broad impacts from GMOs, Rural Vermont continues to ask that the legislature hold hearings on this issue so that all Vermont farmers' and consumers' viewpoints can be heard.

For more information please contact Rural Vermont at (802) 223-7222 or access the documents related to the case with the Public Patent Foundation at http://www.pubpat.org/monsanto-seed-patents.htm.