The farmer, the canola and mighty Monsanto

Who owns life? Who owns it if it blows into your backyard?A battle that has raged for years between Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser and U.S.-based biotechnology giant Monsanto Co. has now reached the Supreme Court of Canada. The court will decide whether Monsanto had the right under Canadian law to patent an advanced living organism -- the seed of a variety of canola whose genes Monsanto altered to make it resistant to the company's herbicide Roundup. It will also rule on whether Mr. Schmeiser had the right to use seeds from the modified canola without paying a licence fee to Monsanto, and whether it matters if, as he claims, the original seeds blew unbidden onto his farmland.