The upcoming Slow Money 4th National Gathering includes a plenary session on OSGATA et al. v. Monsanto. OSGATA President and Maine organic seed farmer Jim Gerritsen will deliver his special address on family farmers seeking justice at the Boulder Theater, in Boulder, CO, on April 29. Slow Money is a national network, which includes local chapters, organized around a
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According to environmental journalist Simran Sethi , the buried foundations of food and future-food are slowly disappearing. Of course, she’s talking about seeds: the memory of life and the wellspring of both food security and seed sovereignty. In a recent Tedx Talk from February 2013, Stethi leads her audience exploration
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The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB)’s spring meeting is Tuesday, April 9, to Thursday, April 11, in Portland, OR. During meetings, the NOSB listens to public comments, discusses their agenda items, and then votes in a public forum. In 2012, the NOSB established the GMO Ad hoc Subcommittee for discussion among organic stakeholders
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Late last week Congress succeeded in passing Section 735, aka the Monsanto Protection Act or the Monsanto Rider, in the Continuing Resolution spending bill – HR 933. By sneaking Section 735 into a federal appropriations bills, Monsanto has successfully planted a dangerous provision in US law. Essentially, the provision would create
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OSGATA President Jim Gerritsen’s recent keynote address at the 31st Annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC), at the University of Oregon School of Law in Eugene, OR, is now available for online streaming. The address gives background information on the US patent system in relation to seed before moving into the
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Stephen Thomas’s “Fixing Food: Seed Solution Models for a New Agricultural Paradigm“-recently published in Acres USA- discusses the importance of regional small-scale organic seed in overhauling the industrial agriculture system. Cited seed solutions include the work of several OSGATA members, including Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, the
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The US Food Sovereignty Alliance, in collaboration with Other Worlds, recently launched a 140-page compendium, and parallel blog series, examining the building of a just and environmentally sustainable food system. Harvesting Justice: Transforming Food, Land, and Agriculture in the Americas, researched and written by Tory Field and Beverly Bell, is ”dedicated to peasant, indigenous, landless,and small farmers around the
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OSGATA President Jim Gerritsen will be presenting a keynote speech on the OSGATA et al. v. Monsanto lawsuit at the 31st Annual Public Interest Environmental Law Conference (PIELC), at the University of Oregon School of Law in Eugene, OR. This year’s conference theme “Earth Too Big to Fail” speaks to how the premiere gathering for
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On February 19, 2013, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Bowman vs. Monsanto- a case which holds the potential to affect patent law as we know it, seed and otherwise. Vernon Hugh Bowman is a 75-year-old soybean farmer from Sandborn, Indiana, who is challenging the concept of patent exhaustion on
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Transcript of Oral Argument in OSGATA et al. vs. Monsanto, January 10, 2013 at the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit Featuring: Judge Wm. C. Bryson Judge Timothy B. Dyk Judge Kimberly A. Moore Attorney Daniel Ravicher, for Plaintiffs Attorney Seth Waxman, for Monsanto
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The Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (SAWG) will host it’s 22nd annual conference, themed “practical tools and solutions for sustaining family farms,” from January 23-26, in Little Rock, AR. Part of the 2013 conference slate is a sustainable seed track. Following two days of intensive short courses and field trips, and an
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Thirty-one family farmers, plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit OSGATA et al v. Monsanto, travelled to Washington, D.C., from across North America to attend the Oral Argument in the Appeal of Dismissal heard before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Thursday January 10, 2013. The lawsuit was
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Family farmers are traveling from across North America to Washington, DC, to participate in the January 10, 2013 Oral Argument in the appeal of dismissal for Organic Seed Growers and Trade Asscociation et al. vs. Monsanto to be heard by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This landmark court case was originally filed in March 2011 to protect farmers from
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The family farmers’ Appeal of Dismissal in Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association et al v. Monsanto will be heard in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., at 10 am on Thursday, January 10, 2013. It is critical that the courtroom for the oral argument of
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This morning, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., announced that it would hear the family farmers’ Appeal of Dismissal in Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association et al v. Monsanto at 10am on Thursday, January 10, 2013. The landmark organic community lawsuit was originally filed in
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The USDA established their Advisory Committee on Biotechnology and 21st Century Agriculture (known as AC21) in February 2003, with its first meeting in June of that year. Under its Charter, AC21 is charged with examining the long-term impacts of biotechnology on the US food and agriculture system, as well as providing guidance to
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Today NPR released an article, The Top Five Myths of Genetically Modified Seeds, Busted, by Dan Charles. OSGATA felt compelled to respond in order to set the record straight. Mr. Charles did not reach out to our organization, which is the lead plaintiff in OSGATA et al. v. Monsanto lawsuit, or any of our
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Eleven prominent law professors and fourteen renowned organic, Biodynamic®, food safety and consumer non-profit organizations have filed separate briefs with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit arguing farmers have the right to protect themselves from being accused of patent infringement by agricultural giant Monsanto. The brief by the
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75 family farmers, seed businesses, and agricultural organizations representing over 300,000 individuals and 4,500 farms filed a brief today with the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., asking the appellate court to reverse a lower court’s decision from February dismissing their protective legal action against
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Dear Farmers, Seed Growers and Farming Groups (OSGATA) Against Monsanto, Today we also heard the bad news. We read of your case being thrown out by Judge Naomi Buchwald. We know the system is broken. And we know that you are trying, however desperately, to stitch a portion of democracy
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