Comment by tancop
11 hours ago
The problem with patented seeds (and everything else) is the owner can decide who gets to use them. No one should hold that power.
If patents worked as a royalty system where you're guaranteed to get a license if you pay there would be no problem. But right now Bayer can use their control over Roundup Ready plants to make farmers buy more products they don't need, or punish them for dealing with competitors, because they have a monopoly.
And it also lets them set the price to anything they want because competing with them is illegal. Exclusive rights are always like that.
Can't you just .. plant something else, lol? I don't think that's a monopoly, then.
Prisoner’s dilemma: margins are razor thin. If your fellow farmers use better seeds then you are forced to use them as well. Otherwise you won’t be able to match their prices without selling at a loss.
That's true of any productivity enhancement. If your neighbors use more efficient tractors you're at the same disadvantage, but nobody argues that farmers should be able to steal tractors.
3 replies →
Only if the cost of monsanto seed + roundup is less than the cost of regular seed per expected harvested bushel? Otherwise, no one would use the monsanto seed + roundup?