Ashley Milano  |  April 20, 2015

Category: Legal News

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A Syngenta corn seed lawsuit filed by a trust that owns and operates several commercial farms in Iowa alleges Syngenta did not practice responsible stewardship and cost U.S. farmers significant damages when it began commercializing Viptera corn seed (also known as MIR162).

The Syngenta corn lawsuit alleges that Kneeland Trust suffered damage because of the drop in the market price of corn and the cross-contamination, or potential cross-contamination, with the plaintiff’s non-Viptera corn. The Syngenta lawsuit further alleges that farmers like the plaintiff who have not purchased or harvested Viptera corn have sustained damage to their property as a result of Syngenta’s wrongful conduct, through the contamination of the entire corm fanning and production chain, including farm equipment, storage facilities, and more.

Syngenta Corn Allegations

Syngenta, a Swiss-based agribusiness, has been accused of attempting to commercialize a GMO corn seed product that had not been approved for sale in China.

Syngenta engineered a corn trait known as MIR162, which makes plants resistant to such corn pests as corn borers, black cutworm and corn rootworm. Syngenta spent five to seven years and $200 million developing the trait, according to court documents.

The company began selling it commercially to U.S. growers in 2011 as Viptera, after approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2010. Viptera has been planted in about 2.8 million acres of corn fields across the United States.

China’s government began rejecting U.S. corn shipments in November 2013, after its tests found that some shipments contained Viptera. While Syngenta says it sought approval of the GMO seed from Beijing in 2010, the product had not yet been cleared for sale in China.

According to a report published by The Wall Street Journal in September 2014, China’s government rejected more than 1 million metric tons of corn exports.

U.S. corn shipments in the first seven months of 2014 were down 85 percent from the same period in 2013. Corn prices have plunged nearly 60 percent from their 2012 peak, a result of record production coupled by the lack of export demand.

It is alleged that Syngenta misinformed farmers, elevators, and exporters that China Viptera approval was imminent and posed no problem for the corn market.

Syngenta Corn Lawsuits

Syngenta continues to claim no market harm to U.S. farmers occurred, but the growing number of Syngenta corn lawsuits suggests otherwise. Farmers similarly allege this financial problem came about because Syngenta decided to market its MIR162 corn to American corn farmers without disclosing the risk of losing the Chinese corn export market even though it knew China had not approved the MIR162 trait.

This Syngenta corn lawsuit seeks to recover both compensatory and punitive damages for Syngenta’s allegedly reckless and willful conduct in prematurely selling unapproved MIR162 corn before China Viptera approval.

The Syngenta Corn Lawsuit is Case No. 1:14-cv-00034-DRH-JAJ-CFB, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa, Western Division.

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