Poor Monsanto, I don't think they have enough lobbyists for this one.
Great that he sued immediately, and didn't wait for Monsanto to sue him for having the wheat on his land.
This doesn't seem to fall under that disgusting Monsanto shit can do no wrong, so eat up! piece of shit legislation, either.
Can't legislate the rest of the world to accept the stuff and shut up.
Don't know if Putin's remark about a war over our chemicals and bees was apocryphal or not, but what happens if no other country wants to accept our crops? And other countries start suing for damages? I know Monsanto is working on the EU to accept GMO crap, hoping to override the EU countries that have already said no.

The most die hard Republicans I have ever met were Kansas farmers. But a trial with a jury composed of these good ole boys, featuring a fellow farmer versus a corporation which has lobbied/donated/bribed GOP politicians for decades? The cognitive dissonance will be massive, but in the tradition of rock-paper-scissors, the farmer will win hands down.

This is the kind of case in which Monsanto would want a non-disclosed settlement, but given the vast number of injured parties, non-disclosure agreements will not inhibit others from suing. There are 2.17 million farm operations in the US. Yes, there are large corporate farm operations, but the average farm size is 421 acres. The US is the world's largest agricultural exporter. And the corporate farms' profits will be hurt just as badly as the family farmers' when it comes to product bans on US crops imposed by other countries.

I'd say Monsanto is in for a world of hurt. This could evolve into the Mother of all class action lawsuits. And we all agree, I'm sure, that it couldn't happen to a more deserving corporation. As ye sow, so shall ye reap, Monsanto!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-19/number-of-u-s-farms-fell-to-six-year-low-in-2012-usda-says-1-.html

policies and tactics.

. . . I would wonder whether Monsanto was ignorant of the fact that wheat pollinates on the wind (thus its open test plots would pollinate across to other fields), or whether it was willfully ignorant?

As for falling international prices, I also suspect that first said Kansas farmer would have to prove a) Monsanto willfully damaged international markets for wheat, as all international trade fluctuates

b) That other nations will not import the excess. Bearing in mind we had a drought in Nebraska and Kansas last year, prices for wheat were inordinately high. With more proper rainfall this year, I would suspect yields to be up, and prices to go down. (You may recall that last year they were suggesting milk might rise to $10/gallon due to the shortage of corn for feed and the Federal mandate that 40% of all corn harvested must go into ethanol production for fuel - even when there is a crop failure. Here in Nebraska there is only one ethanol plant operating at the moment, because there was so little corn harvested.

I'm aware of no federal mandate that 40% of corn go to ethanol production. What are you talking about?

The farmer has to only prove he is damaged by Monsanto's actions. They let the GMO wheat escape, they are responsible. They didn't have to do it willfully or to any purpose.

They refused imports and are now doing rigorous testing. It is a DIRECT result of GMOs and it tanked the export market. If Monsato doesn't bribe or kill him off, the farmer and hopefully others, have a very strong case. They may be able to sue for the value of this year's crop or more.

But more than this, it shows that GMOs cannot be contained. That has been the strongest argument against them all along. The US is too willfully stupid to do anything about it, but it looks like the civilized world is taking note and willing to do something about it.

This could be Monsanto's Asbestos Moment.

specifically, the chemical deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA.

Shouldn't they pay the costs of cleanup ?

I think this will be a rather large class, I hope not because I hope Monsanto has to defend all the suits individually.

thanks unhappy

maybe this is one of those times.