Farmers Name Monsanto In Price Fixing Anti-Trust Suit

by Robyn Seydel

It was just a matter of time before the antics of Monsanto and the other large agribusiness seed companies pushed farmers too far. In a price fixing antitrust lawsuit charging Monsanto with “unlawful conduct in aggregating the power to control all aspects of the production of corn and soy,” the salt of the earth have risen up to say “no more.”

This major legal action, filed under the aegis of the National Family Farm Coalition, on behalf of six family farmers — Bruce Pickett, George Higginbottom, C-K Farms, George and Peggy Naylor, all of the U.S.; and Patrick de Kochko of France — represents the inter-ests of farmers worldwide. The suit goes on to say that Monsanto’s activities “appear to be motivated by its desire to control the basic means of production of the global food supply.” The Class Action Complaint filed in December ’99 in U.S. District Court in the Dis-trict of Columbia alleges that Monsanto and its co-conspirators:

• Formed a cartel through which it attempted to monopolize the genetically engineered (GE) corn and soy seed markets,
• Conspired to unreasonably restrain trade in GE corn and soy seed,
• Conspired to fix prices of GE corn and soy,
• Rushed GE seeds to market without adequate testing of risks to humans and the environment, • Devised a scheme to con-trol prices and restrain trade by misuse of its intellectual property rights over Yieldguard and Round-up Ready gene technologies,
• Devised a licensing scheme for farmers and a merger/acqui-sition program that resulted in the concentrating all of the pro-duction for GE corn and soy in their hands and those of their co-conspirators,
• In support of their mono-polizing efforts they exerted influ-ence over non-GE corn and soy markets,
• Pursued legal action and other intimidating actions against farmers,
• Made deceptive statements about the desirability of GE seeds to farmers making seed purchasing decisions,
• Attempted to monopolize the international GE corn and seed market and consolidate control of the international market in the hands of the same cartel through mergers and acquisitions for the purpose of restraining trade and engaged in the international imposition of excessive “tech-nology fees” upon farmers.

Corporations named as co-conspirators in the price fixing suit include E.I. Dupont, Pioneer Hi-Breed International, Dow Chemical Company, Mycogen, Novartis International, Astra-zeneca and its subsidiaries Garst Seed Company and Agripro Seeds Inc. and Delta Land and Pine Co.

The Washington, D.C. law firm of Cohen, Mistein, Hausfeld and Toll (CMHT) filed the suit on behalf of farmers and is assisted by ten other law firms around the country on a no-win, no-fee, basis. In the suit, farmers are seeking treble damages, compensatory and punitive damages and injunctive relief under the anti-trust laws of the U. S., common law and customary international law. The farmers are demand- ing a jury trial. More informa-tion on this legal action is available on the CMHT website at www.cmht.com.

The National Family Farm Coalition (NFFC) welcomes sup-porters and is particularly inter-ested in New Mexican farmers, especially farmers that once grew GE crops including corn, cotton or soy to join the complaint. The NFFC also welcomes donations to help with this work.

For more information, contact Ariane Kissam at 1-800-639-3276, or e-mail her at nffc@nffc.net.

In Related News…

Monsanto’s merger maneuvering continues with a series of announcements in which former merger partner Delta Land and Pine Co was jilted for the U.S./ Swedish drug group Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc. Exposing its fickle nature, Monsanto withdrew the Delta Land and Pine application just after the new merger was announced.

Monsanto representatives stated delays in the anti-trust review and demands by the U.S. Justice Department caused the Delta Land and Pine merger withdrawal. As national and international opposition to the Terminator Technology, which makes seeds sterile mounted Monsanto publicly promised it would not utilize the technology. Delta Land and Pine officials claim that Monsanto is obligated to pay 81 million dollars in term-ination fees and has mounted a one billion dollar suit of its own against Monsanto.

The as yet to be named company formed by Monsanto’s new merger will be the 11th largest pharmaceutical company in the world, with a total sales of about $17 billion.