Canadian Farmer Found Guilty of Monsanto Canola Patent Infringement Review
It doesn't open until this Fri, but Prairie farmers are already skeptical that the picture Percy will accurately portray their livelihood and the story of Percy Schmeiser, a Saskatchewan farmer who made international headlines when he took his fight against the agrochemical behemothic Monsanto all the way to the Supreme Courtroom of Canada.
There was a collective groan amongst Prairie farmers when they saw the initial marketing poster for the movie Percy, dubbed past the director as a true David-and-Goliath tale of a Saskatchewan farmer's courtroom battle against agrochemical behemothic Monsanto. The problem? Academy Award-winning histrion Christopher Walken is standing in a corn field. Oops. Wrong crop. The unabridged story is about canola seeds. The poster mishap, since corrected, fuelled skepticism about whether Percy, which hits the big screen Fri, would incorporate more than fact than fiction with its portrayal of the contentious story of Percy Schmeiser, a Saskatchewan farmer who took his fight confronting Monsanto and its patent on a genetically modified (GMO) seed all the way to the Supreme Courtroom of Canada. Schmeiser ultimately lost his fight with Monsanto. In the moving picture, however, he is portrayed as the hero. "I believe every word Percy said," said the movie's director, Clark Johnson, speaking to CBC News from New York. "I wouldn't accept took on and told the story if I didn't believe it. "It'south an 'Lowest story.' I hateful it'south cliché to say David and Goliath, just information technology'southward a universal story, and I hope the audience really connects to the idea of this guy putting everything on the line for what he felt was right and true." The film, which omits some key facts of the example, is filled with anti-GMO rhetoric, led past a fictitious environmental activist played by Christina Ricci. She portrays Rebecca Salcau, who relentlessly pressures Schmeiser to become the poster male child for opponents of GMOs and big agribusiness. "Is that what the bent of this movie is going to exist? Is it going to be all about anti-GMO?" said Todd Lewis, a canola farmer from Gray, Sask. He said anti-GMO activists hijacked Schmeiser's plight long ago and said many farmers are nervous near that storyline. "Farmers are comfortable with GMO," said Lewis, president of the Agronomical Producers Clan of Saskatchewan. "GMO is sound science ... it'southward been proven safe once more and again." The on-screen story begins in August 1998, with Monsanto Canada serving Schmeiser legal papers that accuse him of illegally growing their patented canola seed on his subcontract in Bruno, Sask., ninety kilometres east of Saskatoon. "There's gotta be a mistake. I got my own seeds," says the farmer in the movie. Schmeiser, like near conventional farmers, had spent decades saving seeds to replant the following twelvemonth. He had never purchased Monsanto canola. At that time, Monsanto had just begun to sell its "Roundup Ready Canola"— genetically modified canola seeds containing a patented cell and factor engineered to brand information technology resistant to Monsanto'south weed-killer Roundup. The multinational visitor required farmers to buy annual licences for the seed applied science, at $15/acre, and to sign contracts that foreclose them from saving seeds for replanting. Monsanto aggressively pursued anyone accused of buying seeds on the black market — a practice known as "chocolate-brown bagging." Courtroom records show that tests from Schmeiser's ane,000-acre canola ingather, harvested in 1998, revealed that up to 98 per cent of it was made up of Roundup Ready plants. Monsanto sued Schmeiser for patent infringement. Sentry | The trailer for Percy, which will be released Oct. 9: Walken, best known for his roles as villains and gangsters, portrays Schmeiser equally a humble farmer who is confused about how the seed concluded up on his country, but who is resolute in his belief that annihilation on his state is his property. Using courtroom transcripts, the film presents Schmeiser'southward real-life defence that the Monsanto seed must have drifted off a neighbor'south truck, "bravado in the wind" onto his land. The moving-picture show does not, however, reveal that the trial judge dismissed that explanation equally implausible. A CBC News investigation in 2001 also revealed how Schmeiser's neighbours, equally well as scientists, disputed the validity of his defence. Already, farmers take taken to Twitter to dispute the accurateness of Percy. Drama builds in the movie equally Schmeiser is chosen a "thief" past neighbours, ostracized in his community, and almost bankrupted every bit he takes his case all the mode to the Supreme Court of Canada. "It is very accurate," said John Schmeiser, the son of Percy and Louise Schmeiser, who has seen the film. "Really, at the terminate of the day, their story is most defending themselves." He said his begetter was fix to retire and wasn't looking for a fight, but took a stand confronting Monsanto on principle. "My parents received thousands of letters from other farmers who were either in the same state of affairs or didn't similar what Monsanto was doing," said John. He said his female parent responded to every letter. Percy and Louise, both 89, are keeping a low profile in retirement. They just celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary. Percy, who has Parkinson'south disease, isn't strong enough to speak publicly anymore, his wife said. In a phone interview, Louise told CBC News that she liked the pic and appreciates all the back up they accept received over the years. "Monsanto made our lives a living hell," she said. Sentry | Schmeiser's neighbours bandage uncertainty on his story in 2001: The moving picture doesn't delve too far into the nitty-gritty of intellectual belongings police force. It also doesn't present some of the more than damning findings against Schmeiser. The Supreme Court justices wrote in their 2004 determination that "Mr. Schmeiser was not an innocent eyewitness." The decision outlined how Schmeiser discovered Roundup-resistant plants on his land in 1997 and saved the seeds, despite the fact he "knew or ought to have known" that those seeds were patented past Monsanto. Furthermore, in March of 1998, Monsanto visited Schmeiser and warned him that they suspected he had grown Roundup Ready Canola without a licence the previous year. Despite that, Schmeiser cleaned and treated the seeds and so planted nine fields, covering well-nigh 1,000 acres. If he had purchased a licence, equally legally required, it would take cost him $15,000. In the end, the Supreme Court sided with Monsanto in a landmark v-to-4 decision, and concluded that Schmeiser was guilty of knowingly planting Monsanto seeds on his state and violating patent laws. At the time, Monsanto said it welcomed the decision and said the Supreme Court had "set a world standard in intellectual property protection." Schmeiser scored i victory, as celebrated in the picture. The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that the farmer didn't take to pay Monsanto damages considering he never sprayed Roundup on the canola and thus didn't profit from the patented product. An editorial inThe Western Producer, a weekly newspaper that caters to farmers in western Canada, criticized the historical accurateness of Percy and said it volition "likely aid public misunderstanding" about many aspects of modern farming. "The new film will perpetuate the David and Goliath myth, along with others about the agriculture and food industry, farming culture, plant breeding and the safety of herbicides in crop product," writes Mike Raine, the newspaper's editor. Farmer Todd Lewis said despite lingering doubts and ambivalent views, a lot of farmers agree some respect for Schmeiser's stance at a time when proprietary rights to genetically modified seed was nevertheless a new concept. Bespeak of View "He took it to court. He didn't win. But at the same time it was something that had to be done. It set the rules," said Lewis. "And actually, since then the canola industry has expanded and it actually is a Canadian success story." Lewis doesn't program to see the movie in theatre, but he besides won't lose sleep about what'south in it. "Information technology's Hollywood. It's a movie." Percy opens Oct. 9 in Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Regina, with more locations to come.Seeds 'blowing in the wind'
Schmeiser loses
A disservice to modern farming, newspaper says
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Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/percy-movie-farmers-1.5748575
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