High court to hear farmer, Monsanto seed dispute

WASHINGTON ยป The Supreme Court agreed today to hear a dispute between a soybean farmer and Monsanto Co. over the company’s efforts to limit farmers’ use of its patented, genetically engineered Roundup Ready seeds.

The justices said they will hear an appeal from Indiana farmer Vernon Hugh Bowman, who is trying to fend off Monsanto’s lawsuit claiming Bowman made unauthorized use of the seeds.

Monsanto’s patented soybean seeds have been genetically engineered to resist its Roundup brand herbicide. When Roundup is sprayed on a field, the product will kill the weeds without harming the crop.

The Obama administration urged the court not to take the case and warned that the outcome could affect patents involving DNA molecules, nanotechnologies and other self-replicating technologies.

Monsanto has a policy that prohibits farmers from saving or reusing the seeds once the crop is grown, ensuring that farmers have to buy new seeds every year.

Bowman used the patented seeds, but also bought cheaper soybeans from a grain elevator and used those to plant a second crop. Most of the new soybeans also were resistant to weed killers, as they initially came from herbicide-resistant seeds, too. Bowman repeated the practice over eight years. Monsanto sued when it learned what he was doing.

The company has filed lawsuits around the country to enforce its policy against saving the seeds for the future.

Bowman’s appeal was among seven new cases the court added today to its calendar for argument during the winter.

The justices also will consider whether a government’s refusal to issue a development permit can amount to “taking” private property for which the owner must be paid.

GM crops promote superweeds, food insecurity and pesticides, say NGOs

Genetic engineering has failed to increase the yield of any food crop but has vastly increased the use of chemicals and the growth of “superweeds”, according to a report by 20 Indian, south-east Asian, African and Latin American food and conservation groups representing millions of people.

The so-called miracle crops, which were first sold in the US about 20 years ago and which are now grown in 29 countries on about 1.5bn hectares (3.7bn acres) of land, have been billed as potential solutions to food crises, climate change and soil erosion, but the assessment finds that they have not lived up to their promises.

The report claims that hunger has reached “epic proportions” since the technology was developed. Besides this, only two GM “traits” have been developed on any significant scale, despite investments of tens of billions of dollars, and benefits such as drought resistance and salt tolerance have yet to materialise on any scale.

Most worrisome, say the authors of the Global Citizens’ Report on the State of GMOs, is the greatly increased use of synthetic chemicals, used to control pests despite biotech companies’ justification that GM-engineered crops would reduce insecticide use.

In China, where insect-resistant Bt cotton is widely planted, populations of pests that previously posed only minor problems have increased 12-fold since 1997. A 2008 study in the International Journal of Biotechnology found that any benefits of planting Bt cotton have been eroded by the increasing use of pesticides needed to combat them.

Additionally, soya growers in Argentina and Brazil have been found to use twice as much herbicide on their GM as they do on conventional crops, and a survey by Navdanya International, in India, showed that pesticide use increased 13-fold since Bt cotton was introduced.

Case boosts investment in ML&P

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AOL founder could have majority stake after stock sale done

By ILIMA LOOMIS, Staff Writer

WAILUKU – AOL co-founder Steve Case added to his investment in Maui Land & Pineapple Co. this week by purchasing an additional 4.27 million shares under a rights offering by the company.

Case acquired the stock at a price of $3.85 per share, to invest another $16.5 million into the struggling company, according to a report filed with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday.

The sale was made under a plan by ML&P to raise cash by selling 10.4 million new shares to existing stockholders.

The company made a separate announcement this week that it had completed the sale on the New York Stock Exchange.

The proceeds will be used to retire $40 million in convertible notes, giving the company some relief from its significant debt.

Under the offering, each stockholder was offered the right to purchase a limited number of the new shares, in proportion to the size of their previous stake in the company. Case purchased all of the shares that were offered to him.

But he could have access to as many as 6.1 million additional shares if the company’s other stockholders don’t sign up for the rights offering and shares set aside for them are left unsold. The company reported that Case indicated his interest in potentially acquiring all those shares if they were available.

In its report filed with the SEC, the company said Wednesday that it had not yet determined how the unsold stock would be allocated among the investors who wished to purchase it.

With the 7.75 million shares he now owns, Case currently holds a 41.2 percent stake in ML&P, a controlling interest in the company.

But the company said that, depending on how many of the additional shares are allocated to Case, an additional purchase could increase his stake in the company to more than 50 percent.

That could give him even more decision-making power than he already has.

Summary of MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC | Form 8-K

Form 8-K for MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC27-Jul-2010

Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement

Item 1.01 – Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement

Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. (the “Company”) issued senior secured convertible notes in the aggregate principal amount of $40 million in July 2008 (the “Notes”). The Notes mature on July 15, 2013, bear interest at 5.875% per annum and are currently convertible into common stock of the Company at a conversion price of $30 per share.

As previously announced, the Company entered into Convertible Note Purchase Agreements, pursuant to which the Company has agreed to repurchase the Notes, with holders of Notes who hold, in the aggregate, $32.5 million of the principal amount of the Notes, or approximately 81% of all of the Notes currently outstanding.

On July 22, 2010, the Company entered into Convertible Note Purchase Agreements with the holders of the remaining outstanding Notes on the same terms. In total, the Company has entered into Convertible Note Purchase Agreements with the holders of Notes who hold, in the aggregate, 100% of all of the Notes currently outstanding.

Summary of MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC – Yahoo! Finance

ML&P goes ahead with plan to raise $40M

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Maui Land & Pineapple Co. has filed registration documents to proceed with a previously announced plan to convert some of its debt into equity.

On Thursday, the company said it intends to pursue a rights offering for up to $40 million of its common stock. That means it will offer existing stockholders the right to purchase additional shares in the company, raising money that will be used to pay back lenders.

ML&P said shareholders have already subscribed to $27.5 million of the offering.

If the rights offering is sold out, ML&P will repurchase all of its outstanding senior secured convertible notes – a kind of debt that allows lenders to take what they’re owed in the form of stock, if they’re not paid off in cash.

Summary of MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC – Yahoo! Finance

Form 8-K for MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC


Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders

Item 5.07 Submission of Matters to a Vote of Security Holders

On May 13, 2010, Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. (the "Company") held its 2010 annual meeting of shareholders, or the Annual Meeting. Proxies for the Annual Meeting were solicited pursuant to Regulation 14A under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The number of shares of the Company’s common stock, or the Common Stock that were outstanding as of March 12, 2010, which was the record date for the Annual Meeting, was approximately 8,518,033. The final results of the voting at the Annual Meeting are as follows:

Proposal 1: To amend the Company’s Restated Articles of Association to change the number of members of the Board of Directors to not less than five (5) nor more than nine (9), and to declassify the Board of Directors.

Shares voted for:       7,535,426
Shares voted against:      43,656
Shares abstained:          17,685
Broker Non-Votes:               0

Proposal 2: Election of Directors to serve for a one-year term or until their successors are elected and qualified if Proposal No. 1 is approved:

                      Shares Voted    Shares     Broker
                          For        Withheld   Non-Votes
Stephen M. Case          5,972,951     60,694   1,563,122
Warren H. Haruki         5,971,766     61,879   1,563,122
David A. Heenan          5,575,123    458,522   1,563,122
Kent T. Lucien           5,971,401     62,244   1,563,122
Duncan MacNaughton       5,972,571     66,154   1,563,122
Arthur C. Tokin          5,972,571     61,074   1,563,122
Fred E. Trotter III      5,967,637     66,008   1,563,122

Proposal 3: Election of Directors to serve for a three-year term or until their successors are elected and qualified if Proposal No. 1 is not approved:

                  Shares Voted    Shares     Broker
                      For        Withheld   Non-Votes
David A. Heenan      5,701,813    331,832   1,563,122
Kent T. Lucien       5,970,251     63,394   1,563,122
Arthur C. Tokin      5,966,446     67,199   1,563,122

Proposal 4: To amend the Company’s Restated Articles of Association to authorize an additional 20,000,000 shares of the Common Stock:

Shares voted for:       7,139,064
Shares voted against:     416,117
Shares abstained:          41,586
Broker Non-Votes:               0

Proposal 5: Ratification of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal year 2010:

Shares voted for:       7,543,956
Shares voted against:      47,624
Shares abstained:           5,187
Broker Non-Vote:                0

Summary of MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC – Yahoo! Finance

SEC Filings for MLP – MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC

Form 8-K for MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC


19-Apr-2010

Change in Directors or Principal Officers

Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Principal Officers; Election of
Directors; Appointment of Principal Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.

(e) On April 12, 2010, the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors of Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. (the "Company") approved an annual salary increase to $225,000 for Ryan L. Churchill. The compensation adjustment was made in recognition of Mr. Churchill’s February 8, 2010 appointment as the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer.

Summary of MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC – Yahoo! Finance

Maui Land & Pineapple Company Inc. News – The New York Times

Latest Insider Trades

04/05/2010

CHURCHILL RYAN L
Payment of exercise price or tax liability by delivering/withholding secs incident to the receipt/exercise/vesting pursuant to Rule 16b-3

Shares sold: 966

Share price: $6.24

Trans. value: $6,027.84

04/05/2010

SUMIDA ADELE H
Payment of exercise price or tax liability by delivering/withholding secs incident to the receipt/exercise/vesting pursuant to Rule 16b-3

Shares sold: 644

Share price: $6.24

Trans. value: $4,018.56

04/05/2010

DURKIN JOHN P
Payment of exercise price or tax liability by delivering/withholding secs incident to the receipt/exercise/vesting pursuant to Rule 16b-3

Shares sold: 966

Share price: $6.24

Trans. value: $6,027.84

Maui Land & Pineapple Company Inc. News – The New York Times

Summary of MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC – Yahoo! Finance

Form 8-K for MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC


2-Apr-2010

Other Events

Item 8.01. Other Events

Maui Land & Pineapple Company, Inc. announced today that the New York Stock Exchange has accepted the Company’s plan for continued listing on the NYSE. As a result, the Company’s common stock will continue to be listed on the NYSE, subject to quarterly reviews by the NYSE to monitor the Company’s progress against the plan.

The NYSE notified the Company on January 11, 2010, that the Company had fallen below the NYSE’s continued listing standard requiring that it maintain an average market capitalization of at least $50 million over a consecutive 30 trading-day period. With the acceptance of the plan, the Company has 18 months from the original notification date in which to comply with the average market capitalization standard, subject to its compliance with the NYSE’s other continued listing requirements.

Summary of MAUI LAND & PINEAPPLE CO INC – Yahoo! Finance