In response to a letter to the editor in the May 11 issue, by Craig Evans, General Manager, Biotechnology and Seed, Monsanto Canada.
He states, “We have broadly licensed the Roundup Ready trait, at no cost, to seed companies and researchers as part of our commitment to making our innovations available to all growers.”
He chooses not to give the reason why they make it available at no cost, the reason being if there was a cost, it would be passed on to producers, which would result in Roundup Ready canola seed being priced higher than conventional canola. This would result in less acres planted of Roundup Ready canola, since growers have to pay an additional $15 per acre in technology fees. This would result in less money going into Monsanto’s coffers.
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Before the introduction of Plant Breeders Rights legislation and the subsequent royalties, certified canola seed was quite inexpensive and practically all canola was seeded with certified seed. Now with the royalties it is cheaper to plant cereals using certified seed than it is to plant canola using certified seed. No wonder more growers are using their own seed to plant their canola acres.
Granted money collected from royalties is used to develop better varieties, but one has to question the logic of registering 50 new varieties each year, 95 percent of which are no better than what is already on the market.
Why does Monsanto charge $15 per acre technology fee for canola and only $7 per acre for soybeans? The reason is that both Liberty Link and Smart Canola herbicides cost around $20 per acre, whereas the farmers who grow soybeans in Eastern Canada have other herbicides available that control a similar spectrum of weeds at $12 per acre. …
It doesn’t matter if a farmer harvests a 40 bushel per acre crop and sells it for $9 per bushel or gets a 15 bushel an acre crop and only gets $5 per bushel. Monsanto still collects their $15 per acre. Farmers would be getting a windfall if they were guaranteed $15 per acre net profit after all expenses each year for every acre they farm.
Monsanto with their Roundup Ready canola have a goose that lays golden eggs, and farmers are paying for the eggs. They will go to any extreme to keep the goose alive. That is why they were ready to invest $1.8 billion in the terminator gene technology and only backed down because of an outcry from concerned farmers.
Rest assured, they will come up with some other plan to keep that goose alive.
– John J. Capcara,
Furdale, Sask.
