As the world's human population continues to increase, food supplies will become more difficult to sustain. We can not alternate the number of planting seasons in a year, the number of rainy days, the amount of fertile land... but we can introduce technology and innovation to the food supply. We know that technology and innovation brought us the scientifically engineered McRibb at McDonald's, but Monsanto's technology brings us scientifically engineered seeds for soybean, corn and sugar cane among others. Their seeds are resilient from weed killer and pesticides, have a better yield, and are more weather resistant. In essence, the DNA of the seeds are altered to be a bigger, better, healthier generation.
Recently, a 75 year old farmer from Indiana named Vernon Bowman decided to pay Monsanto for 1 year's worth of seeds only to harvest the crop for more seeds to use for future crops. This strategy allows Vernon to pay Monsanto for only 1 year of seeds and bypass them for every year going forward. Monsanto is crying foul because this cuts into their profits. They obviously created this technology so that farmers purchase their seeds every year for planting. This is an interesting patent case. Pharmaceutical companies usually are allowed several years of dominance with a new drug before generic drugs are allowed to undercut the price.
The case of Monsanto vs. Bowman is clearly a David vs. Goliath case but will have far reaching consequences. On one side you have the farmer that is trying to make a buck on his crop. On the other side you have a company that wants to be rewarded for their science, technology, research and development. Without this innovation, the world may be a lesser place. It could be argued that Monsanto's innovation is necessary for mankind and the world will be a better place if they are rewarded. Attached is the original article... http://www.cnbc.com/id/100464458.
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