Are GE crops good for farmers?
GE crops radically change the nature of farming, transferring control of seed from farmers to agrochemical companies such as Monsanto. Contamination from GE crops also threatens the integrity of traditional farming crops and affects access to markets. Seed for GE crops is owned by agrochemical companies under patent law. This enables them to set conditions on farmers using the seed — for example, requiring farmers to pay royalties or demanding that farmers purchase new seed each season rather than sowing seed saved from previous harvests. GE crops bind farmers into legally enforceable, restrictive and onerous agreements. In Canada and the United States, where GE crops have been sowed for over 12 years now, these companies aggressively pursue legal action against farmers for patent infringement. Many of these are farmers unknowingly growing GE crops on their land as a result of contamination. Canadian canola grower, Percy Schmeiser, was sued by Monsanto because GE canola was growing on
