MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, March 28th 2024 - 18:58 UTC

 

 

Brazilian soybean farmers oppose contract with Monsanto to end royalties’ dispute

Thursday, February 21st 2013 - 04:45 UTC
Full article 21 comments
“We reject the individual contracts offered by Monsanto” said Senator Katia Abreu “We reject the individual contracts offered by Monsanto” said Senator Katia Abreu
The CNA president with a close friend who usually consults her on farm issues  The CNA president with a close friend who usually consults her on farm issues

Brazilian farmer groups are opposing a contract that Monsanto the world’s biggest seed company is offering farmers to end a dispute over royalty payments on its genetically modified soybean seeds. Monsanto is trying to resolve uncertainty over its ability to collect fees on its new Intacta soybeans, which it is scheduled to start selling in Brazil during the next growing season.

The contract would waive royalties on Roundup Ready soy, an older technology, this year and next. In return, farmers would forgo claims in a patent dispute and pay royalties on seeds not yet on the market. The future payments are opposed by the Brazilian National Agriculture Federation, a group of farming associations also known as CNA.

“We reject the individual contracts offered by Monsanto,” Katia Abreu, the head of CNA, said in an e-mailed statement. “We expect Monsanto to take back the contracts that are already signed and present a new document.”

“We are working to understand CNA’s concerns,” Kelli Powers, a Monsanto spokeswoman, said by phone.

The Parana State Federation of Agriculture, known as FAEP, also said it opposed the agreement. Glauber Silveira, head of Brazil’s soybean growers association, said farmers shouldn’t sign and should continue pursuing royalty claims in court.

“We believe producers are being tricked into signing a contract that will get them trapped to Monsanto for every new technology,” Silveira said from Cuiaba, state of Mato Grosso.

Growers who sign the contract won’t pay a technology fee in the current and subsequent growing seasons on soybean seeds that are genetically modified to tolerate glyphosate herbicide, Monsanto said in a statement last month. The herbicide is marketed by Monsanto as Roundup. Farmers who sign will waive the right to try recouping royalties previously paid.

The agreement would resolve claims by growers that the patent on the original Roundup Ready soybeans expired in 2010, ending their obligation to pay Monsanto royalties on the seeds. Monsanto argues that Brazilian law extends the patent to late 2014.

The company’s Intacta seeds are engineered to produce an insecticide while also tolerating Roundup.

However it won’t be an easy battle since Katia Abreu is Senator for the state of Tocantins, and as president of CAN, Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil, she rules over an entity the brings together 27 state Federations, 2.142 farm unions and more than one million producers.

The first woman in the leadership of Brazilian agro-business, a sector that represents 24% of GDP, employees 37% of the work force and generates 36% of exports, Kátia Abreu believes in transforming rural Brazil and guaranteeing security of income to Brazilian producers.
 

Top Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules
  • rylang23

    Sr. Silveira says ”“We believe producers are being tricked into signing a contract that will get them trapped to Monsanto for every new technology” and he is exactly correct. The farmers must reject EVERY contract that Monsanto puts on the table. It will be worded to look like a short term benefit, but it will never be a long term benefit for the farmer's. Monsanto is out to destroy the the world, one bio-system and one farmer at a time. See this if you don't believe what I am saying: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/02/19/1607161/monsanto-supreme-court-hearing/
    and this to see who the courts will back if a farmer is taken to court: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2013/02/19/1607161/monsanto-supreme-court-hearing/

    Okay, Trolls.... you can come out now.

    Feb 21st, 2013 - 06:37 pm 0
  • Think

    (1) rylang23

    I have been called a “Troll” so many times in here that I feel entitled to anserw you ;-)

    Seriously now, except for the part where you say “Monsanto is out to destroy the the World”; I fully agree with your assesment.....

    Life is to important a thing to be the private property of a Missourian Corporation, well known for some of its products as DDT, PCB, Agent Orange and Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin.

    Feb 21st, 2013 - 08:40 pm 0
  • rylang23

    (2) It may not be in Monsanto's Mission Statement nor its yearly reports, but the destruction of bio-diversity is exactly what Monsanto is about. As they would put it in private, “We want to control all of the seeds in the world being used for growing food”, which means all seed will become GMO, which means death to bio-diversity in the food chain. So, allow me to restate that sentence you pointed out:“Monsanto cares only about its profits, and will severely damage the bio-deversity and long term food security of the world in the pursuit of its stated goals”.

    Feb 21st, 2013 - 09:19 pm 0
Read all comments

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!