Monsanto GM Soya Royalties at Stake in Brazil

Posted by |26 June 2012

A ruling this week by the Brazilian Supreme Court of Justice could mean Monsanto loses billions in revenue from genetically modified soya, according to an article on Nature.com.

Brazil legalized GM crops in 2005. Since then, Monsanto has charged Brazil’s farmers 2% of their sales of Roundup Ready soya beans. It also tests soya beans sold as non-GM. If it turns out they are in fact Roundup Ready, Monsanto charges 3% of their sales.

Brazilian farmers are trying to recover those payments, alleging it is an unjust tax and that it is impossible to keep Roundup Ready soya beans separate from conventional varieties, while Monsanto argues that most of the country’s farmers still use smuggled seeds and it therefore must impose the tax.

“On June 12, the judges of the Brazilian Supreme Court of Justice ruled against Monsanto, deciding unanimously that a ruling by the Justice Tribune of Rio Grande do Sul, once it is made, should apply nationwide. Monsanto has declined to comment on the case,” the Nature.com article says.

Source: Nature.com; edited by Jaclyn Sindrich, Managing Editor