That will be the stark message to Norfolk's farming community from a Canadian farmer who has been dragged through the courts by Monsanto, when he flies in to join the 2020 Vision Collective's debate on GMOs and the future of global agriculture at the Univeristy of East Anglia.

Percy Schmeiser, the farmer issuing this dire warning to Norfolk's famers is not a young activist, or  an organic grower, but a 70-year-old conventional farmer and former mayor of his local town.   

His message to farmers in Norfolk:  if GM crops are given the go ahead here then, like farmers in North America, expect private detectives on your farms keeping tabs on whatever you're growing[1]. If other farmers in your neighbourhood are growing GM crops, then you may have to pay royalties for products you never bought or got any benefit from. And if you stand up for your rights, you’ll be dragged through the courts.  

That is exactly what happened to Percy Schmeiser, culminating at the end of March in a dramatic court room verdict requiring him to pay Monsanto $85,000.

The Washington Post had this to say about the implications for farmers of Percy Schmeiser's aggressive treatment by Monsanto:  

"the decision in a federal court in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, was a significant setback for farmers who fear they will be held liable if pollen from neighboring farms blows onto their fields, transmitting patented genes to their crops without their knowledge or consent. Dozens of similar lawsuits have been filed against farmers around the United States...." [2]

America’s National Farmers Union has said about the Percy Schmeisser case, "We're extremely concerned by what liabilities may unfold for the farmer, particularly with cross-pollination of genetically modified  plants."[3]

Adding to the controversy is what has emerged from the Starlink fiasco in the US where a GM crop unapproved for human consumption has extensively contaminated the human food chain, showing the vast scale on which GM contamination can occur:

"In Iowa, StarLink corn represented 1 percent of the total crop, only 1 percent. It has tainted 50 percent of the harvest." [4]

At the UEA debate tonight Percy Schmeiser will meet farmers like Norfolk farmer John Sanderson who  last spring was the first in the UK to plough up his GM contaminated Oil Seed Rape crop.  

Percy Schmeiser will also have the chance to meet farmers from India who are also deeply concerned about the issue of corporate control over farmers and the danger of GM crops  exacerbating, rather than alleviating, the problems of poverty and hunger.

Nicole Cook for the 2020 Vision Collective commented, “All around the world the plight of farmers is the same. From New Delhi to Norfolk to Saskatchewan, GM crops are threatening farmers with the crushing costs and complications that come with corporate control of the food chain. “  

MEDIA CONTACT: For more information or to arrange interviews with Percy Schmeiser (available also on the 19th) contact Nicole Cook -  07769  838769

Notes

 [1] In N. America Monsanto has hired Pinkerton detectives to keep tabs on hundreds of US farmers and seed dealers across the country, with hundreds of potential criminal "seed piracy" cases under investigation and dozens of cases already heading for court. Percy was front of the  queue.

[2] The Washington Post, Major Victory for Biotech Giant Monsanto, Friday, March 30, 2001 http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12927-2001Mar29.html  

[3] Quoted in The Washington Post, Major Victory for Biotech Giant Monsanto, Friday, March 30, 2001 http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12927-2001Mar29.html  

[4] ABC NEWS  November 28, 2000. According to US agricultural journalist Alan Guebert writing in Farmers Weekly, December 8 2000, "The US Department of Agriculture claims to know where the maize ”” banned from all food use globally and only recently approved for US exports ”” is located... So do I:  StarLink maize is everywhere."
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See also: http://www.percyschmeiser.com/