But he said hard times forced him to purchase a cheaper mixture of seeds from a grain elevator starting in 1999, which he used for his second planting.
The mixture included Roundup Ready soybeans, which Bowman was able to isolate and replant from 2000 to 2007.
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Nothing in the story tells me that the seeds he bought from the grain elevator were Monsanto product (other than the unsubstantiated allegation that it “contained” the seeds) ,, only that they had the same characteristics , they weren’t sold by Monsanto or labeled as Monsanto seeds ... they were sold as generic soybeans ... that he took the ones that survived “roundup” and grew them for future seeds/plantings sounds 100% OK to me.
Virtually all soybeans raised for domestic crushing contain either the Monsanto patented trait or the Bayer patented trait. If the farmer didn't know which beans he had purchased, he wouldn't know which herbicide to apply. If he had applied the wrong herbicide, he would have killed all beans which didn't carry the patented trait.