Monsanto (MON) Lawsuit from Organic Farmers Dismissed

A lawsuit brought by organic farmers against Monsanto (NYSE:MON) has been dismissed by a federal court in New York.

Although a lot of the cotton corn, canola and soy in the United States is genetically modified, the major concern and probability is for corn to be the main crop which could migrate to nearby fields, which the lawsuit was about.

The two major concerned aired by organic farmers was over the possibility of being sued by Monsanto over the drifting of their genetically modified genes into the fields of the farmers, which of course hadn't paid for them.

Second, was the potential for organic farmers' crops to lose value because of the inclusion of some of the genetically modified crops mixed with theirs.

As of 2011, anywhere from half a percent to 2 percent of GMOs are mixed in with organic corn, generating some of the concerns from organic farmers.

The judge ruled against the organic farmers because "not one single plaintiff claims to have been so threatened" by Monsanto concerning a lawsuit.

According to the ruling, the judge added that the farmers overstated the magnitude of patent enforcement" by Monsanto, which on average brings about 13 patent-enforcement lawsuits annually. The judge said that "is hardly significant when compared to the number of farms in the United States, approximately two million."

In regard to patent rights, Monsanto asserted they don't bring lawsuits against farmers where small amounts of traits from their genes land in the fields of the organic farmers, or others.