Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association
Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association(OSGATA) is the farmer-controlled national non-profit membership trade organization of certified organic farmers, certified organic seed companies, organic seed professionals, affiliate organizations and individuals dedicated to the advancement of certified organic seed. OSGATA protects, promotes and develops the organic seed trade and its growers, thereby assuring that the organic community has access to excellent quality certified organic seed, free of genetic contaminants and adapted to the diverse needs of local organic agriculture.
OSGATA supports a strong decentralized organic seed industry which meets the needs of the market by encouraging certified organic farms and independent companies selling certified organic seed. The expansion of a vibrant organic seed trade will result in sovereign seed systems rich in biodiversity which respond to the ecological, economic, and localized challenges and needs of organic agriculture at every scale.
The organization promotes the organic seed industry and lobbies state and federal governments to protect the rights of organic farmers. OSGATA is based in Washington, Maine. As of 2014, OSGATA had nearly 3,000 individual members supporting policy actions in support of organic seed.
Aroostook County, Maine potato farmer Jim Gerritsen is President of the OSGATA.[1]
In 2011, OSGATA was lead plaintiff in Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association et al. v. Monsanto against Monsanto Corporation to stop it from suing farmers who have been contaminated by their genetically engineered (GE) seeds. [2] OSGATA et al. v. Monsanto was filed in federal district court in Manhattan, NY, on March 29, 2011, on behalf of family farmers, seed businesses and agricultural organizations, challenging as invalid Monsanto’s patents on GE seed. This landmark lawsuit further sought Court protection for family farmers who, through no fault of their own, may become contaminated by Monsanto’s patented GE seed and find themselves accused of patent infringement.
Following an oral argument in January of 2012, Judge Naomi Buchwald sided with Monsanto in their motion to dismiss. [3] On July 5, 2012, the plaintiff group −which had grown to represent over 300,000 individuals and 4,500 farms− filed a brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., requesting reversal of the lower court decision. [4]
The oral argument before the Court of Appeals was heard on January 10, 2013. The Appellate Court issued its ruling on June 10, 2013. [5]
In a complicated ruling, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit justices repudiated the ruling of the district court and acknowledged the farmers had legitimate claims and that GE contamination was inevitable. The three justices issued an estoppel which legally bound Monsanto to their courtroom assurances− that Monsanto would not “take legal action against growers whose crops might inadvertently contain traces of Monsanto biotech genes (because, for example, some transgenic seed or pollen blew onto the grower’s land).” The Justices believed their estoppel order protected the farmers, removed substantial controversy and mooted the case.
On September 5, 2013, the plaintiffs, unsatisfied with the limited protection offered, appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court in order to attain full protection for American farmers. [6] On January 13, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court elected to pass over OSGATA et al. v. Monsanto, and let stand the Court of Appeals ruling, effectively ending the lawsuit giving the farmers a partial victory.
In 2014, OSGATA released the first comprehensive peer-reviewed manual to help farmers better protect themselves from potential GE contamination and associated liability concerns. Protecting Organic Seed Integrity: The Organic Farmer’s Handbook to GE Avoidance and Testing has been made available for free to farmers in both hard copy format and as a digital download. It serves as a comprehensive tool to help farmers, as well as seed handlers and seed companies, maintain genetic purity in organic seed, as well as organic food crops.
Protecting Organic Seed Integrity offers pertinent guidance on seed contamination avoidance and testing protocols for the following at-risk crops (those with USDA-approved GE counterparts which were currently in commercial production at time of publication): corn, soybean, cotton, alfalfa, papaya, canola (Brassica rapa), sugarbeet, and squash (Cucurbita pepo).
References
- ↑ Moskin, Julia (December 5, 2011). "A Maine Farmer Speaks to Wall Street". New York Times. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
- ↑ Monsanto versus the people, Aljazeera. January 14, 2013.
- ↑ http://www.osgata.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/OSGATA-v-Monsanto-MTD-Decision.pdf
- ↑ http://www.pubpat.org/assets/files/seed/OrganicSeedCAFCBrief.pdf
- ↑ http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/images/stories/opinions-orders/12-1298.Opinion.6-6-2013.1.PDF
- ↑ https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.fooddemocracynow.org/images/13-303_Organic_Seed_v_Monsanto_-_PETITIONERS_REPLY_BRIEF.pdf