We all know Percy Schmeiser, our Canadian hero who dared to stand up against corporate giant Monsanto for farmers rights. If you don’t, he was the guy whos field was contaminated by GE Canola seed, and then Monsanto sued him for patent infringement. Since he had Monsanto’s patented gene on his land, and he was collecting and selling his seeds just as he and his fathers had done for generations, Monsanto took him to the Supreme court, who upheld Monsanto’s patent in a 5-4 decision, but refused to order him to pay in a 9-0 decision.

Percy is back. He is taking Monsanto to small claims court for $600,000 to cover the cost of his cleanup. Monsanto agreed to pay the $600,000 if Percy agreed to sign a non-disclosure agreement, but of course he refused. If Percy Schmeiser wins this case, it could set a precedent for other farmers and food producers to sue biotech companies like Bayer, Syngenta, and of course Monsanto for contaminating their land or food.

I believe that if biotech companies were held financially accountable for all cases of contamination, it would effectively kill the genetically engineered crop industry. Crops are, by their very nature, extremely hard to contain. They have evolved to try to get their pollen and seed to spread far and wide, and in some cases contamination has occurred tens of kilometers away. If those same companies that enforce their “technology fees” on unsuspecting farmers had to pay cleanup costs and other environmental liability under the “polluter pays” principle, it would be an enormous financial burden. The Liberty Link rice contamination would cost Bayer billions in liability.

We will keep following Percy’s case, and hope for the best.