U.S. District Judge Rejects Organic Farmers' Suit Against Monsanto

Read the blog post by Lisa Pruitt, Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis, on this recent decision from the US.  Organic growers had sued Monsanto pre-emptively over the risk associated with the presence of GM elements in their crops that Monsanto would take action to enforce its patents.  The growers sought a ruling that Monsanto's patents were invalid because they are "injurious".

Read the article at: Lisa R. Pruitt.

Trespass Claim for Pesticide Drift

Click on the following link for an article from the official blog of the Association of American Law Schools - Agricultural Law Section about a significant pesticide drift ruling from the Minnesota Court of Appeals: Johnson et al. v. Paynesville Farmers Union Cooperative Oil Co.  The Johnsons, organic farmers, sued the PFUC over allegations that pesticide and herbicide spray had drifted onto their organic crops and caused crop damage (including the alleged loss of organic certification). 

PFUC applied for summary judgment to have the claim thrown out on the basis that there was no "trespass by particulate matter".  A lower court judge agreed with the PFUC, but the appeal court ruled that pesticide overspray could constitute an unlawful entry (trespass).  The AALS article notes that most jurisdictions now recognize agricultural chemical drift as sufficient grounds for a claim in trespass.

Suit seeks to bar genetically modified sugar beets

Suit seeks to bar genetically modified sugar beets - Winnipeg Free Press

The Winnipeg Free Press is reporting on a lawsuit in the U.S. by organic farmers hoping to halt the planting this spring of genetically modified sugar beets.  After only two years of use, the Roundup Ready beets already comprise 95% of beets being planted.  The organic farmers are concerned about cross-pollination.

The article also refers to a successful 2007 U.S. lawsuit over Roundup Ready alfalfa.  Monsanto is appealing the decision in that case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but a date for hearing has not been set.  Tom Lutey of the Billings Gazette in Montana is reporting that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has recused himself from (taken himself out of) the case because his brother heard the alfalfa case in a lower court.  Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who was a former staff attorney in Monsanto's herbicide division, is not recusing himself.