An Iowa farmer is suing Syngenta Corporation and its related companies over allegations that release of its Viptera corn caused a costly disruption in the corn market.

According to plaintiff Mark’sSyngenta corn lawsuit, Syngenta developed a strain of genetically engineered corn named MIR162 to kill certain corn-destroying pests. In 2009 Syngenta released the first generation of MIR162, known as Agrisure Viptera, onto the market.

The company applied to Chinese officials in March 2010 for approval of Viptera for import into China. By November 2013, China still had not approved Viptera for import. In that month, Chinese officials found trace amounts of Viptera in a shipment of U.S. corn and responded by banning all imports of U.S. corn. China kept banning U.S. corn until December 2014, when officials finally approved MIR162 for import.

This sudden loss of what in the previous year had been the third largest export market for U.S. corn caused a drop in the price of corn that in itself cost corn industry members significant losses, says Mark. The USDA had projected that China would have imported a record high seven million tons of U.S. corn in the next year.

The National Grain and Feed Association found that the Chinese ban caused a drop in the price of corn of 11 cents per bushel, translating to a projected $1.14 billion loss over the nine months ending in August 2014.

Mark argues that Syngenta’s release of Viptera puts the entire U.S. crop at risk of being tainted with traces of that variety. He says that due to the nature of the corn market, different varieties of corn cannot be kept separate as they travel through the stream of commerce.

He says that Syngenta in fact encouraged the intermingling of Viptera with other varieties of corn through a promotional program that encouraged farmers to plant Viptera side-by-side with other varieties.

Therefore, Mark says, even though MIR162 was only planted on about three percent of U.S. acreage in the last two seasons, it’s impossible to guarantee that any part of the U.S. crop will be free from MIR162.

Mark also argues that Syngenta irresponsibly assured U.S. corn industry participants that Chinese approval for MIR162 was imminent, even while it knew that approval was still pending.

At the same time, Mark says, Syngenta downplayed the ramifications of the possible loss of the Chinese corn market. The company has since published a “Plant With Confidence” fact sheet to encourage farmers to keep planting Viptera, but Mark says the statistics cited on the sheet contradict others provided by the USDA.

Despite the alleged effect of Viptera corn on the corn market, Syngenta is proceeding with plans to release Duracade, the second generation of MIR162 corn, prior to receiving approval for Chinese import of that particular generation. Both the National Grain and Feed Association and the North American Grain Export Association have joined in a statement asking Syngenta to stop releasing Duracade.

Both organizations expressed concern that the same losses that followed the release of Viptera could also follow the release of Duracade.

This Syngenta Corn Lawsuit is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Iowa.