The following is a brief of the story. For the full version, see the Thursday, Sept. 4 print edition of the BDN.

A legal dispute that has involved more than 100 local farmers and a global biotechnology firm was settled in federal court Tuesday in St. Louis.

According to a report from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, a two-year patent infringement dispute between Monsanto Co., which develops genetically modified plants, and the Pilot Grove Cooperative Elevator Inc. was settled with the Pilot Grove farmers group agreeing to give $275,000 to fund local agricultural scholarships and to buy $1.1 million in Monsanto products over six years.

Reuters reported that Pilot Grove acknowledged violating Monsanto’s Roundup Ready seed technology and accepted responsibility for damages, according to Monsanto.

The case started in 2004, when an anonymous phone call was made to Monsanto. The “seed police,” as some farmers refer to those who bring forward cases of seed re-use, provoked widespread anger against those that prompted warning to, including litigation and in some cases, charges of harrassment.

David Brumback, a fourth generation Cooper County farmer, was one of those who was subpoenaed by Monsanto, and for the past 30 days, has been awaiting an apology from the company for its actions.

His legal battles with the company began in December 2007 when an investigator showed up at his rural Bunceton farm, looking for his father. After some discussion, Brumback said he told the man he owned the farm, as his father died 11 years ago.

This was just days after Brumback prepaid more than $90,000 for seeds for this year’s growing season. Brumback said he’s been a loyal Monsanto customer for years, some years purchasing all of his seed from the company, and has never held back seed.

“I’ve always purchsed new seed,” he said. Although the subpoena requested five years of Brumback’s farm records, including Farm Service Agency reports and seed, grain and chemical receipts, Brumback said the company could have gotten the information from their own records.
But the practices of Monsanto’s investigators also angered Brumback. “During that initial 45 days, they were here 4-5 times,” Brumback said. “They’d show up at 9 at night in the pitch dark asking for more information. They’d show up in the middle of the day, just walk into my shop or find my wife and question her.”