While conceding that store shelves sag under the weight of genetically engineered foods, Saskatchewan farmer Percy Schmeiser believes people are more concerned than ever about what they eat.

The subject of film and thousands of news stories is in Kamloops Wednesday evening for a talk at Thompson Rivers University’s Clocktower Theatre at 7 p.m.

Schmeiser was sued successfully by Monsanto Corp., which accused him of collecting its seeds genetically modified to withstand the weed-killing herbicide Roundup. The third-generation farmer claimed those seeds ended up amid his crops through wind or some other method.

He eventually lost his fight at the Supreme Court of Canada. But Schmeiser said he later successfully settled out of court on a related matter, receiving payment from the corporation.

“One of the things at the beginning was it was more of a farmer’s issue,” he said in an interview after arriving in Kamloops Tuesday afternoon.

“I found out in the last 18 months people are really concerned about what’s in their food.”

Genetically modified organisms are used in foods to make them resistant to insects or herbicides or to increase yield, for example. They have been widely accepted in North America. Greenpeace, among its critics, says the acceptance is a result of ignorance in Canada because genetically modified foods do not require special labelling.

Schmeiser said the quickly rising cost of food is partly the result of practices like those of Monsanto, which requires farmers to purchase new seeds each year.

“It used to cost a farmer 90 cents to a dollar an acre for canola seeds. Now it’s $50 to $60 an acre.”

While Schmeiser said organic farming continues to thrive, evidenced by its availability on the shelves of major grocers, he believes it is threatened by genetically engineered foods, due to the spread of seed through wind, birds and other natural means.

“They are contaminating foods that are organic.”

Schmeiser last spoke in Kamloops five years ago. He estimates he does about 125 talks or interviews a year on his passionate fight against big corporations in agriculture. He recently spoke in Tucson, Ariz., where there is concern about genetically engineered chili peppers.