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October 24th, 2014 
David Schulberg 
Brazilian soy exporters are still resisting Monsanto’s push for them to collect royalties from farmers reusing the biotech giant’s patented seeds, some saying such a liability – even for a fee – may not be worth possible “embarrassment” to the industry.
Companies exporting soy
from Brazil are still reluctant to strike a deal with Monsanto,
despite months of negotiations, Reuters reports. Although exporters were
reportedly close to a deal earlier this month, it now seems the
industry continues to be wary of the possibility that Monsanto
could resort to blocking shipments that contain patented crops if
a dispute over payment arises.
Unlike in the United States, Brazil has no patent laws
prohibiting farmers from reusing seeds year over year, making it
much easier for farmers to avoid paying Monsanto anything on a
yearly basis.
READ MORE: Brazilian farmers demand Monsanto
refund their money for GMO crops that don’t work
By striking a deal with Monsanto, the exporter would assume legal
and potentially financial liability for collecting royalties from
farmers, since groups like Brazil’s Association of Vegetable Oil
Industries (Abiove) believe Monsanto may try and stall shipments
until royalties are paid.
“The risks of possible future embarrassment to the soy
industry from Monsanto… may prevent crushing and trading firms
from receiving that (Intacta) soy,” Abiove said in a
statement.
Monsanto, in the meantime, said some 500 firms that purchase
soybeans from farmers have already agreed to police royalty
payments at more than 3,000 points across Brazil, Reuters
reports.
Still, talks over Monsanto’s new Intacta RR2 Pro seeds continue.
In one case where a local exporter struck a deal with Monsanto in
exchange for compensation, the company said it did so
“reluctantly.”
With previous Monsanto seeds like RoundupReady, some companies
spent 10 years collecting royalties and assuming legal liability
for cargo despite not receiving any compensation for the extra
work. As Intacta starts to compose a large portion of Brazil’s
harvest – it’s currently pegged at somewhere between 15 to 20
percent of the entire crop – exporting companies are trying to
avoid once again becoming the “soy police.”
“We can serve as monitors in this process, as Monsanto
requests … but we cannot assume legal responsibility for the
collection of royalties,” Abiove President Carlo Lovatelli
told Reuters back in July.
As a result, the debate persists. Some exporters are reportedly
willing to collect Monsanto’s royalties if the company agrees to
pay them a fee for their time and additional legal burden. In
early October, one local exporter announced that it had reached an agreement
with Monsanto, but it did not go into detail regarding its fee
and said it was unenthusiastic about accepting legal liability.
Following that development, it was expected that Abiove, which
represents other merchants, would also strike a deal with
Monsanto. Some 20 days later, though, that has yet to happen.
This isn’t the first time Monsanto has been involved in a legal
dispute in Brazil. In 2012, five million farmers sued the company, claiming it was collecting
royalties on seeds it unfairly claims as its own. The farmers won
a payout of $2 billion, though Monsanto promised to appeal and
ultimately reached a settlement with the farmers.
This summer, meanwhile, farmers represented by the Association of
Soybean and Corn Producers of the Mato Grosso region claimed
Monsanto’s new pest-resistant BT corn seeds failed to live up to
their promise, and said the company should reimburse them for the cost of the extra pesticides
they had to use. For its part, Monsanto blamed farmers for
failing to plant the genetically modified seeds alongside
conventional seeds, thereby making it more likely that insects
would develop resistance.
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Monsanto still clashing with Brazilian soy exporters over royalties
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