[Ngo-sanrm] Will this happen with crops in Vietnam?

Sustainable Agriculture and Natural Resources Management Working Group ngo-sanrm at ngocentre.org.vn
Sat Apr 18 08:38:00 ICT 2015


REUTERS
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/15/argentina-soybeans-monsanto-idUSL2N0XC2I720150415>
Wed Apr 15, 2015 Argentine farmers say Monsanto soy contract
breaks local law
BUENOS AIRES, APRIL 15 | BY MAXIMILIAN HEATH

   (Reuters) - Argentine farm groups on Wednesday asked soy export
   companies to stop inspecting cargoes for bootlegged biotechnology
   <http://www.reuters.com/sectors/industries/overview?industryCode=159> at
   the behest of U.S. seed company Monsanto, the latest move in a long
   conflict between the country's farmers and Monsanto.

Growers in Argentina, the world's top exporter of soymeal livestock feed,
have signed agreements with Monsanto Co. for inspections of soybean
shipments to ensure the company receives royalties for beans grown with its
Intacta technology.

Under the contracts, farmers must pay the royalties if they use saved seed
from prior harvests of the genetically modified beans. Monsanto's Intacta
soybeans have a gene that allows the soybean plant to protect itself
against crop-devouring worms.

In their statement Wednesday, the farm groups said their crops should not
be subject to inspection by anyone but the state.

"Monsanto is trying to control all soy production in Argentina by forcing
the payment of royalties under a system that runs contrary to the Argentine
legal system," said the statement by the country's top farm groups
including the Argentine Rural Confederation (CRA) and Rural Society (SRA).

It went on to ask grains export companies to stop performing soybean cargo
inspections on behalf of Monsanto. It also asked farmers to stop signing
contracts that permit the inspections and insisted that the government
intervene on behalf of Argentina's growers.

A spokesman for the agriculture ministry, which forecasts a record 2014/15
soy crop of 58 million tonnes, could not be immediately reached for
comment. The Rosario grains exchange on Wednesday upped its harvest
forecast to 59 million tonnes from a previous estimate of 58 million,
citing good crop weather.

Monsanto says it is trying to work with farmers.

"In no way is the control system oriented toward charging all royalties on
the beans. To the contrary. What we want is for farmers to pay under
preferential conditions," said Pablo Vaquero, vice president of Monsanto
Argentina <http://www.reuters.com/places/argentina>.

Argentine growers have long called it unfair to have to pay royalties on
crops grown with beans produced on their farms, whether or not those beans
were originally planted with genetically modified seeds.

*(Additional reporting by Carey Gillam
<http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=carey.gillam&>;
Writing by Hugh Bronstein; Editing by Grant McCool
<http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=grant.mccool&>)*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://ngocentre.org.vn/pipermail/ngo-sanrm/attachments/20150418/cd305ce1/attachment-0014.html 


More information about the Ngo-sanrm mailing list