Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Fwd: [sno-valley-tilth] Organic Veg Farmers whouse Semin

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: KAKerby AT aol.com
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Fwd: [sno-valley-tilth] Organic Veg Farmers whouse Semin
  • Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2010 16:29:08 EDT

The thanks goes to my hort. mentor Kate; she gets me out of all sorts of trouble.  And gets me into a fair amount as well.  She's been known to hand me some potted plant of unknown type and then tell me to go learn about growing it.  God bless ya, Kate.  Wish you'd handed me a pot of greens this morning, rather than a can of very unsavory worms.....
Kathryn Kerby
Frog Chorus Farm
Snohomish, WA
 
In a message dated 3/17/2010 1:19:48 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time, organic87 AT frontiernet.net writes:

On Mar 17, 2010, at 2:06 PM, KAKerby AT aol.com wrote:

You know, I've wondered about that whole "right to enter a farm to test for contamination" issue.  There is no precedent that I know of in patent law, or even in cases of outright theft, which gives the owner of supposedly stolen property (in this case, Monsanto) the right to forcibly enter a privately owned premises and search for that material.  The only individuals with that right according to Constitutional law would be law enforcement officials with a valid warrant

I think what's going on here is that, supposedly, in opening the package you're consenting to the possible search. Whether that's a legal way to do it I don't know; but it certainly is possible to sign a prior agreement so consenting -- when I sign my organic certification paperwork each year, one of the things I'm doing by so signing is authorizing the certifying agency to conduct an unannounced inspection if they choose to do so, either as a result of some cause for suspicion that the standards were being violated or just as a random check. They can't come charging into my bedroom, but they can certainly come into my fields. -- If I barred the gates and refused to let them in, of course, I don't think they could do anything worse than decertify me. And they're bound by a confidentiality agreement, they can only disclose to any third party certain specific information having to do with my certification.

It does not seem to me that in opening a packet of Big Beef tomato that has no such language anywhere on it (I just checked) I could remotely be considered as having given Monsanto the same permission that I did give an authorized NOFA-NY Certified Organic LLC inspector. But I don't know whether they could legally claim that a farmer in possession of a packet that does bear such language and has been opened had given that permission by opening the package, even though the farmer didn't sign anything. Maybe they can -- I think I've seen some software that says that by opening the package you're agreeing to the terms; though generally with software you at least also have to click on the "agree" box.

Of course, it occurs to me: how do they know the farmer has that opened package, unless they do the search first? Even the police aren't allowed to first do the search, and then go get the warrant based on the evidence obtained in the search.


By the way -- thanks for the heads up, Kathyrn. I've forwarded your original message re this to the NOFA list. 

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



=

_______________________________________________
Market-farming mailing list
Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page