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Enforcing Single-Season Seeds, Monsanto Sues Farmers
By Paul Elias The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Monsanto Co.'s "seed police" snared soy farmer Homan
McFarling in 1999, and the company is demanding he pay it hundreds of
thousands of dollars for alleged technology piracy. McFarling's sin? He
saved seed from one harvest and replanted it the following season, a
revered
and ancient agricultural practice.

"My daddy saved seed. I saved seed," said McFarling, 62, who still grows
soy
on the 5,000 acre family farm in Shannon, Miss. and is fighting the
agribusiness giant in court.

Saving Monsanto's seeds, genetically engineered to kill bugs and resist
weed
sprays, violates provisions of the company's contracts with farmers.

Since 1997, Monsanto has filed similar lawsuits 90 times in 25 states
against 147 farmers and 39 agriculture companies, according to a report
issued Thursday by The Center for Food Safety, a biotechnology foe.

In a similar case a year ago, Tennessee farmer Kem Ralph was sued by
Monsanto and sentenced to eight months in prison after he was caught lying
about a truckload of cotton seed he hid for a friend.

Ralph's prison term is believed to be the first criminal prosecution linked
to Monsanto's crackdown. Ralph has also been ordered to pay Monsanto more
than $1.7 million.