Are Sygenta Viptera lawsuits appropriate reaction to GMO trade problems? US farmers split

Ask just about any farmer leader if they support science and innovation in agriculture and the answer will usually be a resounding “yes.” But ask them about how to commercialize new seed traits and avoid sending those products to unapproved international markets, there’s little consensus.

It’s a debate that’s been playing out in farm groups, federal agencies, in Congress, international markets, and most recently in the courts. Flocks of lawyers are buying ads on the Internet and attending farm meetings across the U.S. in an attempt to recruit farmers to sue Syngenta, a seed and crop protection company based in Switzerland with U.S. headquarters in Minnesota. More than 750 lawsuits were filed. The global company sold over $15 billion in products last year.

In the lawsuits, which are being consolidated in the U.S. District Court in Kansas, plaintiffs allege that they suffered financial losses in 2013 after China started to reject shipments of U.S. corn and distilled dried grains (DDGs) containing Syngenta’s Agrisure Viptera (event MIR162).

The debate over commercialization and stewardship is sometimes pitting farmer against farmer – even within associations like the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) which has a long-standing policy in support of biotechnology.

Take the case of former NCGA President Wallie Hardie, one of the plaintiffs suing Syngenta. The North Dakota farmer told Agri-Pulse that he believes that legal action is necessary because “what happened was significant in the corn and DDGs markets.”

Yet, another former NCGA President, Kansas Farmer Ken McCauley has been encouraging farmers who are being recruited by lawyers to join the Syngenta lawsuits to “just say no, no, no.”

Farmers are “sending the wrong signal by joining the lawsuits, by basically “selling biotechnology providers down the river,” McCauley says. On Facebook, he’s described farmers joining the lawsuits against Syngenta as “ambulance chasers.”

Read full, original article: Ag innovation: Squeezed between lawsuits and a biotech hard place

{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.singularReviewCountLabel }}
{{ reviewsTotal }}{{ options.labels.pluralReviewCountLabel }}
{{ options.labels.newReviewButton }}
{{ userData.canReview.message }}
screenshot at  pm

Are pesticide residues on food something to worry about?

In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring drew attention to pesticides and their possible dangers to humans, birds, mammals and the ...
glp menu logo outlined

Newsletter Subscription

* indicates required
Email Lists
glp menu logo outlined

Get news on human & agricultural genetics and biotechnology delivered to your inbox.