Many farmers have chosen to avoid planting the GMO seeds, for whatever reason, and aren't given the choice to extract them once the seeds have infiltrated into their crops. How is it legal to fine or sue a farmer after discovering a patented GMO on his/her land? Wouldn't it be more logical to permit the farmers to sue the owner of the GMO for intruding upon their crops?

Expert response from GMOAnswers Admin_1

Friday, 08/11/2013 11:10

This is a question that we've seen several times on GMO Answers, and a misperception that we’d very much like to correct. None of our companies has sued a farmer because of the inadvertent presence of patented biotech traits in the farmer's field.

We respect a farmer’s right to choose the best seed for him or her. In fact, our company is a supplier of non-biotech seed. Our agronomy and sales teams work with farmer customers to match the right seed—whether that's biotech or not—and the best management practices to their specific growing conditions. And what we see in the field is that farmers are successfully growing all types of crops (conventional, organic, biotech, specialty), sometimes even on the same farm, through good communication, cooperation, flexibility and mutual respect for each other’s practices and requirements.