Dive Summary:

• The Center for Food Safety has released a report entitled "Seed Giants v. U.S. Farmers," painting a dark picture of the tactics Monsanto uses to manipulate the seed market and gouge farmers.
• The report comes just one week before the Supreme Court begins to hear arguments of a case between Monsanto and a 75 year old Indiana soybean farmer, Vernon Hugh Bowman, for alleged patent infringement.
• Monsanto, one of the world's largest agro-companies, has all but a monopoly on seeds --a power they yield without much concern for the farmer or consumer.

From the article:

Monsanto has vigorously defended its intellectual property rights after investing hundreds of millions of dollars and more than a decade of research and development into its patented Roundup Ready technology. The company licenses to farmers seeds that tolerate an active ingredient in herbicides known as glyphosate. The technology is so popular, Monsanto states, that as of 2007 it was used in more than 90 percent of soybeans grown in the United States.

Over the years, farmers have been sued for replanting seeds containing the technology. Monsanto has sued hundreds of farmers in at least 27 states, obtaining 72 recorded judgments totaling nearly $24 million, according to the report that was released by the Center for Food Safety and Save Our Seeds (SOS), a European initiative. Monsanto says it must restrict licensing of its seeds to the first generation of crops because soybeans grown from the original seeds contain its patented technology.