It was standing room only as family farmers
from around North America
filled Federal Court Judge Naomi Buchwald’s
courtroom
in Manhattan on
Tuesday, January 31. The topic was the landmark organic

community
lawsuit OSGATA et al v. Monsanto and the oral argument in Monsanto’s
pre-trial motion to
dismiss which it filed
last July. Over fifty-five Plaintiffs
were
in the courtroom from at least 21 States
and Provinces
including Oregon, California, New
Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota,
Saskatchewan, Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia,
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont
and Maine.
Meanwhile, outside the courthouse in Foley
Square, hundreds turned out for the
Citizens’ Assembly
of support for family farmers, an
action organized by several groups including Occupy Food Justice.
A depiction of Monsanto’s infamous 100 year history including Agent
Orange, Dioxin, PCBs and now gene-spliced food was presented. Speakers
addressed topics ranging from sustainable agriculture to risks
associated with GMOs to issues of good food and food justice. After the
conclusion of the of the courtroom oral argument, the plaintiff farmers
and their legal team from the Public Patent Foundation provided details
and comments on the courtroom proceedings to supporters at the
Citizens' Assembly.
"We were very pleased that the court granted
our request to have oral argument

regarding
Monsanto's motion to
dismiss our case today,” said Daniel Ravicher
of the Public Patent Foundation, lead lawyer for the Plaintiffs.
“The judge graciously permitted both parties to raise all the points
they wished in a session that lasted over an hour. While
Monsanto's attorney
attempted
to portray the risk organic farmers face
from being contaminated and then
accused
of patent infringement as
hypothetical and abstract, we rebutted those arguments with the
concrete proof of the harm being suffered by our clients in their
attempts to avoid such accusations. The judge indicated she will
issue her ruling within two months. We expect she will deny the
motion and the case will then
proceed
forward. If she should
happen to
grant
the motion, we will most likely appeal to the Court of
Appeals who will review her decision without deference."
The large group of 83 Plaintiffs in OSGATA v.
Monsanto is comprised of individual

family farmers, independent seed
companies and agricultural organizations. The total
number of members
within the plaintiff group exceeds 300,000 and includes many thousands
of certified organic farmers. The Plaintiffs are not seeking any
monetary compensation. Instead, the farmers are pre-emptively
suing Monsanto
under
the Declaratory Judgment Act and seeking
court protection
from
Monsanto-initiated
patent infringement lawsuits.
President of lead Plaintiff, Organic Seed Growers
and Trade Association, Maine organic seed farmer Jim Gerritsen was in
the courtroom and witnessed the oral argument. Gerritsen had this to
say, “Our lawyer did a good job explaining the current
injustice
farmers face. We have a right to be secure on our farms and to be free
from Monsanto’s GMO trespass. If we become contaminated by Monsanto,
not only is the value of our organic seed crop
extinguished but we
could also be sued by Monsanto for patent infringement because their
contamination results in our

‘possession’
of their GMO technology. We
have farmers who have stopped growing organic corn, organic canola and
organic s
oybeans
because they can’t risk being sued by Monsanto. It’s
not fair and it’s not right. Family farmers need justice and we deserve
the protection of the court.”
Early on in the legal process, Monsanto was asked
by lawyers for the Plaintiffs to provide a binding legal covenant not
to sue. Monsanto refused this request and in doing so made clear that
it would not give up its option to sue contaminated
innocent
family
farmers who want nothing to do with Monsanto’s GMO technology.
In a remarkable demonstration of solid support
by American citizens for family
farmers, co-plaintiff Food Democracy
Now! has collected over 100,000 signatures
on
its
petition
supporting the rights of family farmers against Monsanto. “For the past
12,000 years farmers have saved the best seeds each year to increase
yields and
improve traits for the food we eat,” said Dave Murphy,
founder and Executive Director of Food Democracy Now! “In 1996, when
Monsanto sold its first patented genetically modified (GMO) seed to
farmers, this radically changed the idea of how
farmers planted and
saved seed. Less than two decades later, Monsanto's aggressive patent
infringement lawsuits have created a climate of fear in rural America
among farmers. It's time for that to end. Farmers should not have to
live in fear because they are growing our food."
A complete 36 page transcript of the oral
argument is available here (
pdf
|
txt).
Further information on OSGATA v. Monsanto is
available from
woodprairiefarm.com.