Monday, August 29, 2016 Farmers fear seed bill will favour MonsantoGov’t to send draft to Congress that would require royalty payments for first three seasonsLocal soy farmers fear they will get shortchanged under a proposal they argue would favor US agricultural company Monsanto by forcing them to pay royalties on seeds grown on their own farms using the company’s genetically modified technology. Monsanto says to plant seeds grown with that technology without paying royalties — something that the current law allows — amounts to copyright infringement. The government will introduce a bill to Congress next month requiring farmers to pay royalties for the first three seasons of planting beans grown from original GMO seeds. Monsanto officials in Buenos Aires said they would have no comment on the bill until the measure is formally introduced. In response to criticism, Monsanto implemented an alternative mechanism known as “Bolsatech,” which allows farmers to appeal the decision before being charged, but farmers were sceptical of letting Monsanto run the controls altogether.

Source: Bueno Aires Herald August 29, 2016 03:04 UTC