8 Steps the Department of Justice Could Take to Reform Farming

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Increasingly, organic farmer-researcher-company networks are forming to strengthen the availability and value of non-GMO, organically grown seeds. They desperately need a level playing field without the crushing dominance of a company like Monsanto. Here, AllergyKids founder Robyn O’Brien lays out some needed steps toward genetic justice in the seed marketplace.~Ed.

Guest blog by Robyn O’Brien
Updated for posting March 12, 2010

In an unprecedented move with the USDA, the Department of Justice will launch an investigation into the farm business with a 7-state probe into how Monsanto treats its customers, our nation's farmers.
I recently had the honor of presenting to our nation’s top producing farmers in Chicago at the Top Producer Seminar, sponsored by Cargill and Pioneer. I then had the privilege of spending the afternoon in an incredibly insightful discussion with the farmers, many of whom are Monsanto’s customers.

As I walked into the room for that presentation, I was greeted with "Welcome to the Lions' Den." As part of my presentation, I shared that a sad fact: farm income was down 35% in 2009, according to the USDA.

At a time when farm income is dropping, Monsanto is planning on higher profits. According to forward-looking statements to Wall Street analysts, Monsanto is expecting gross margins of 62% in Q2, based on projected sales from farmers. Monsanto is also expecting to drive up the price mix of their corn and soy products by 8-10%.

I also shared that according to these same statements, Monsanto expects to expand their glyphosate revenue to an estimated $1 billion in gross profit by 2012, further enabling them to drive R&D into seeds and to price those seeds at a premium – further driving price increases on the farm.
And then I listened.

What I learned from these remarkable men and women is simply jaw dropping.

Lawsuits, unregulated costs

Due to Monsanto’s contracts with seed companies, farmers are now bound by the threat of a lawsuit if they speak out regarding farm practices. As third and fourth generation farmers, inheriting their grandfathers' lands, their corn crops are no longer regulated by the FDA but by the EPA due to the insecticidal proteins they now contain, and they are subject to rising, unregulated costs never before seen in farming - contractual fees, trait fees, licensing fees and royalty fees and germ plasm fees associated with a technology that has been engineered into seeds designed to enhance Monsanto's bottom line.

As I listened to the farmers and learned about their trade practices, I could not help but think of AT&T and the Bell System which for years functioned as a regulated monopoly until an antitrust investigation resulted in its break-up. The practices employed by Monsanto on the farm rival the fee structure that the phone company once had in place.

As our dialogue grew, we learned that together, we could affect remarkable change.

So in collaboration with our nation's leading farmers to address the patents, licenses and royalties fees now being engineered into our food supply designed to enhance the profitability of the world's largest agrichemical corporation , here are 8 steps that the USDA and the Department of Justice could take to address the financial impact that these practices are having on the farm:

As was done with AT&T, re-establish Monsanto and its subsidiaries into separate companies. Separate the germ plasm and technology divisions into independent entities.
Establish precedence that these newly established entities do not collect trait fees, royalty fees, licensing fees or other forms of income from each other, and they should not be allowed to collect these tech fees from the independent companies.
Have Monsanto refund the money collected from the independent seed companies as retribution for the fact that the same fees were not charged to their partners and subsidiaries.
Require that all companies (Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta etc.) supply genetically treated and untreated seeds and technology to the public in order to give the farmers a free market from which to choose how much the farmer wants to spend on a bag of corn or beans. The current practice involves the blending of the best genetics into melting stock corns, so the companies can harvest more profit.
Establish an oversight committee with one-term limits, made up of independent seed companies and with multi-nationals, in an effort to prevent monopolistic price increases in the cost of corn and soy production that will impact food price inflation at the retail level.
Structure federal subsidies so that taxpayer dollars are used to subsidize and provide marketing and insurance programs for the growth of commodities (corn and soybean crops) that are grown without the use of synthetically engineered chemical ingredients.
Reduce the fees charged to organic farmers growing crops without synthetic, chemical and genetically engineered ingredients that they must pay in order to certify that their crops are free of these ingredients (fees are paid to certifiers, not to the USDA National Organic Program).
Provide the same level of marketing assistance and crop insurance programs to organic farmers growing crops free of synthetic and chemical ingredients.

The lack of federal oversight and regulation of trade practices on the farm have enhanced Monsanto's profitability and driven shareholder value, yet its costs are being externalized not only onto our nation's farmers but also onto the 300 million American eaters.
We are all stakeholders in our food supply and together, we can affect remarkable change for farmers, families and food.

Robyn O’Brien founded AllergyKids, an organization designed to protect the one in three American children with autism, allergies, ADHD or asthma. O'Brien earned a Fulbright Fellowship and an MBA, then served as an equity analyst on a multi-billion dollar fund prior to moving to Boulder, Colorado, with her husband and four children. Her blog is Food Politics.

To support farmers using GMO-free seed, Demand Organic