Letter to the Editor: Veto Senate Bill 155

As Montana farmers, we grow a huge variety of food. Our counties differ vastly in size, climate and soil. But one thing is consistent for all producers: Not one of our 56 counties has ever regulated our seeds. So why does Senate Bill 155 exist?

In 2013, Bayer and Monsanto presented draft legislation for politicians to chip away at local control of the seed market. They wanted to make sure that local farmers couldn’t stop them from developing test-plots and moving in next door. The bill language in SB 155 is nearly an exact copy to what those giant GM corporations wrote in 2013.

SB 155 does away with a county’s ability to protect their farmers from GM contamination via cross-pollination. Something that would devastate a farm whose market relies on proving that our crop is not GM.

Monsanto and Bayer shouldn’t be writing our state’s seed laws. Montana farmer’s should come up with our own solutions to the problems we face as a community of growers. The state shouldn’t take that away from us.

I urge Gov. Steve Bullock to veto SB 155.

Dylan Strike

Owner

Strike Farms

Bozeman