Syngenta AG reached an in-trial settlement with a group of about 22,000 Minnesota farmers who claimed the company carelessly marketed its genetically modified corn seed, causing contamination of U.S. crops and a rejection of imports by Chinese officials.
The farmers were seeking more than $400 million in damages. The settlement was announced in state court in Minneapolis Tuesday. The amount wasn’t disclosed.
The settlement comes three months after Syngenta lost a $218 million jury verdict to a class of Kansas farmers, in the first trial over the corn contamination claims. Several other trials are pending as lawyers pursue suits on behalf of some 350,000 corn growers claiming as much as $13 billion in losses. The farmers allege Syngenta caused five years of depressed corn prices.
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The Minnesota farmers claimed Syngenta, the Swiss agrochemical giant, rushed its GMO seed to market before getting import approval from China. In 2013, China stopped taking shipments from the U.S., calling the corn contaminated. The farmers also claimed Syngenta misled them on when the Chinese would approve the seed.
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Syngenta Settles Minnesota Corn-Contamination Suit in Trial
