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N.D. farmer fined over unlicensed seed

HAY MAKER

Well-known member
N.D. farmer fined over unlicensed seed


FARGO, N.D. -- A Milnor, N.D., farmer and elevator owner who paid nearly $11,000 in fees and penalties for illegally selling 186 bushels of wheat seed without a license says he was only trying to help a neighbor in a planting season time jam and that the incident has left a "sour taste" in his mouth.

North Dakota regulators and AgriPro, the seed company, say the enforcement against so-called "brown-bagging," is necessary to keep private investment in plant variety improvements.

Loren Ellefson, a farmer and owner of Milnor Grain Co. since 1999, says helping out a friend resulted in $7,250 in fines to the North Dakota State Seed Department and another $3,733 in a settlement to AgriPro, a division of Syngenta Seeds Inc.

An NDSSD random audit showed that Ellefson sold spring wheat seed to a neighbor, Don Wehlander, in a 2005 in violation of the federal Plant Variety Protection Act. The PVPA offers protection to a company similar to a patent.

"Isn't that something?" Ellefson says.

"I'm a farmer. A neighbor wanted to get started seeding, and I understood that a mobile conditioner hadn't gotten to his place to clean yet. He wanted a little wheat to start seeding. I didn't realize I was doing anything wrong."
 

Karl

Well-known member
Aint that something, You bought the wheat, You planted the wheat, You harvested the wheat and then you cant seel YOUR wheat to whoever you want. This would be why I cant stand Syngenta, Monsanto and other companie like that. What has this world come to, you cant even help out a friend without getting sued. Sad isnt it.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Karl said:
Aint that something, You bought the wheat, You planted the wheat, You harvested the wheat and then you cant seel YOUR wheat to whoever you want. This would be why I cant stand Syngenta, Monsanto and other companie like that. What has this world come to, you cant even help out a friend without getting sued. Sad isnt it.

I was talking to the Pioneer seed rep the other day...In order to buy some of their seed like the Roundup Ready alfalfas and corns, you have to show them the field it is being seeded in- he has to get the GPS coordinates so they can monitor it by satellite to make sure you are not harvesting for seed :roll: :( .......
 

Bullhauler

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Karl said:
Aint that something, You bought the wheat, You planted the wheat, You harvested the wheat and then you cant seel YOUR wheat to whoever you want. This would be why I cant stand Syngenta, Monsanto and other companie like that. What has this world come to, you cant even help out a friend without getting sued. Sad isnt it.

I was talking to the Pioneer seed rep the other day...In order to buy some of their seed like the Roundup Ready alfalfas and corns, you have to show them the field it is being seeded in- he has to get the GPS coordinates so they can monitor it by satellite to make sure you are not harvesting for seed :roll: :( .......
I talked to my seed man the other day and he said the same thing for the RR alfalfa. I said for as much as it costs i won't be planting any RR alfalfa any time soon.
 

Clarence

Well-known member
I can see the seed companies side of this. The have a lot invested in producing this seed. But think what will happen when you won't be able to keep your own replacement heifers because you use seman from a genetic engineered bull.
 

Karl

Well-known member
I had heard too that there was a farmer, I cant remeber exactly where though, who planted some corn next to a guy who planted some RR corn and it cross pollenated. The guy who had the regular corn kept it for seed not knowing it cross pollenated and somehow monsanto found out and sued him. Dont know if there is any truth to it, and I wish I could remeber the whole story. Any of you heard this.
 

Bullhauler

Well-known member
Karl said:
I had heard too that there was a farmer, I cant remeber exactly where though, who planted some corn next to a guy who planted some RR corn and it cross pollenated. The guy who had the regular corn kept it for seed not knowing it cross pollenated and somehow monsanto found out and sued him. Dont know if there is any truth to it, and I wish I could remeber the whole story. Any of you heard this.
I doubt if it was corn. Keep hybrid corn back for seed and you will be lucky to get you seed back the next year.
 

Karl

Well-known member
Maybe it was beans, I really wish I could remeber the story. I'll stop by the guy I heard it from on the way home frome checking cows this afternoon.
 

Jinglebob

Well-known member
Karl said:
Maybe it was beans, I really wish I could remeber the story. I'll stop by the guy I heard it from on the way home frome checking cows this afternoon.

I read something about this a year or so ago, but don't remember the whole story. I think it said they were suing the guy, but I never heard if they won or not. I think it happened in Iowa? And I do think it was with beans.
 

Tumbleweed

Well-known member
These Roundup Ready seeds sound like trouble to me. There is talk of them coming to westeern south dakota with alfalfa seed. Sure hope that doen't happen because it can cross pollinate with the native or wild alfalfa from what I hear. That will stop ranchers from harvesting seed and selling it if it happens to have cross pollinated even if you've never planted it. Below is a web site I came across about Monsanto going after farmers.

http://www.keepmainefree.org/whosues.html
 

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