Percy Schmeiser

Percy Schmeiser
Percy Schmeiser in Stuttgart (2008);
MLA for Watrous
In office 1967 – 1971
Preceded by	Hans Broten
Succeeded by	Donald Cody
Personal details
Born	January 5, 1930 (1930-01-05) (age 87) Bruno, Saskatchewan
Political party	Saskatchewan Liberal Party
Occupation	Farmer

Percy Schmeiser (born January 5, 1930) is a farmer from Bruno, Saskatchewan, Canada. He specializes in breeding and growing canola. He became an international symbol and spokesperson for independent farmers' rights and the regulation of transgenic crops during his protracted legal battle with multinational agrichemical company Monsanto. He was the subject of the 2009 film David Versus Monsanto.

In 1997, Percy Schmeiser found Monsanto's genetically modified “Roundup Ready Canola” plants growing near his farm. He testified that he sprayed his nearby field and found that much of the crop survived, meaning it was also Roundup Ready. He testified that he then harvested that crop, saved it separately from his other harvest, and intentionally planted it in 1998. Monsanto approached him to pay a license fee for using Monsanto's patented technology without a license. Schmeiser refused, claiming that the actual seed was his because it was grown on his land, and so Monsanto sued Schmeiser for patent infringement on August 6, 1998.

For the next several years, the case traveled through the Canadian court system. Meanwhile, Schmeiser became a popular figure among those opposed to genetic engineering. He accepted speaking engagements around the world. Ultimately, a Supreme Court 5-4 ruling found in favor of Monsanto, because Monsanto owned a valid patent and Schmeiser violated the patent by intentionally replanting the Roundup Ready seed that he had saved.

On August 11, 1999, Schmeiser filed a separate lawsuit against Monsanto for ten million dollars for "libel, trespass, and contamination of his fields with Roundup Ready Canola". As of 2007, Schmeiser had not started to prosecute that lawsuit.

In 2002 Schmeiser's wife filed suit against Monsanto for $140 plus costs for costs to remove contamination of her organic garden with volunteer GM canola; the case was dismissed.

Schmeiser discovered Roundup Ready Canola in his fields in 2005. He contacted Monsanto to have the company remove it, but when Monsanto conditioned doing so on Schmeiser signing a confidentiality agreement and a release from litigation, Schmeiser had the cleanup done and billed Monsanto for the $660 cost. When Monsanto refused to pay, Schmeiser sued in small claims court. On March 19, 2008 Monsanto settled out of court, paying the $660 without stipulation.