Reading guidelines, Vermont Farm Protection bill.

Start with the annotated contract from Monsanto.  The growers advocating the Vermont bill have many concerns with this contract.  Do you think these concerns are valid?

Read the outline of the Vermont Farm Protection Bill, supplementing with the full text where necessary.  For each of the concerns noted in the contract, determine whether and how the Vermont bill would affect the contract imposed by Monsanto.  Are there any points that the farmers wanted changed, that are unaltered by the bill?

Read Shollenberger’s and Claghorn’s testimonies.  Are there any statements of “fact” that you would like to see substantiated with data?  Are there any that, based upon our readings from this semester, you disagree with?  Do you think that they have a valid point  in advocating for the passage of this bill?  In particular, consider the primary issue, strict liability.  Be sure you understand what this term means, and how liability would change if the bill was passed and signed into law.

Read the American Seed Trade Association testimony.  Which side are they on?  What is their argument concerning the bill?  How do they address the liability issues raised by the farmers advocacy group?