Jim Gerritsen is an American

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer mig ...

and

activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fr ...

from

Maine Maine () is a U.S. state, state in the New England and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and territories of Canad ...

. He is mostly known for his involvements in the politics of Organic Faming as the proponent of the same. Gerritsen is President of the Maine-based national trade organization Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA). In March 2011, Gerritsen and other farmers filed a lawsuit ''(OSGATA et al v. Monsanto)'' against

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed i ...

Corporation to prevent it from suing farmers who have been contaminated by their

genetically modified Genetic engineering, also called genetic modification or genetic manipulation, is the modification and manipulation of an organism's genes using technology. It is a set of technologies used to change the genetic makeup of cells, including ...

seeds for patent infringement. Gerritsen used to own and operate Wood Prairie Farm in Bridgewater, Maine, where he primarily grew organic Maine Certified seed potatoes and other organic seed since the farm was established in 1976. The farm's ownership and operations have been handed over to Gerritsen's son 2016 onwards

Activism

In January 2014, the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

refused to hear ''OSGATA et al v. Monsanto'', effectively ending the case. However, American farmers gained partial protection with the ruling by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. which had issued an estoppel, ordering Monsanto not to sue farmers for patent infringement should they become contaminated by trace amounts of Monsanto's patented seed technology. Gerritsen co-founded the Slow Food Aroostook and he is also known as the co-founder of the local chapter of the

Organic Crop Improvement Association The Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA) is a member-owned, non-profit organization, which provides research, education and certification services to organic growers, processors and handlers around the world. OCIA certifies and verifies f ...

. In November 2011, the

Utne Reader ''Utne Reader'' (also known as ''Utne'') ( ) is a digital digest that collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment, generally from alternative media sources including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music, and ...

named Gerritsen an "Organic Food Champion" and one of the magazine's "world visionaries" for that year. Gerritsen has connected the message of

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest movement against economic inequality and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district, in September 2011. It gave rise to the ...

to the loss of family farms and spoke at the Occupy Farmers March in New York City in December 2011. In 2013, he received Jim Cook Award for his contributions to Maine's local food movement. In January 2014, Gerritsen participated in the first ever Agrarian Elders Conference in Big Sur, CA. On Mother Earth Day 2014, Gerritsen spoke about the superiority of organic farming systems before the United Nations in New York City as a panel member of the 4th Interactive Dialogue of the General Assembly. In 2016, Gerritsen along with his wife legally sold their farm Wood Prairie Family Farm to their son. In March 2018, Gerritsen and his wife filed for a 'personal bankruptcy protection'. They listed for $460,000 in debt.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gerritsen, Jim Anti-GMO activists Farmers from Maine Living people Organic farmers People from Aroostook County, Maine Year of birth missing (living people)