Syngenta continues to face cross industry fallout over their premature release of their genetically modified corn before China Viptera approval. Corn farmers, grain elevator businesses, large corporate grain exporters, and the general public were allegedly misinformed about China’s approval of Syngenta Viptera corn seed.

Now, three master complaints have been filed by corn farmers, non-producers and milo growers alleging substantial financial damages due to Syngenta’s rush to market Viptera corn.

Syngenta, one of the world’s leading agri-businesses, engineered a corn trait known as MIR162. This corn trait helps to make plants more resistant to crop destroying corn pests. These corn pests include black cutworms, corn rootworms and corn borer worms. According to court documents, Syngenta has spent over five years in developing the MIR162 trait, investing over 20 million dollars in the trait.

Court documents also state that Syngenta began selling it to U.S. growers as early as 2011, that U.S. corn farmers planted 2.8 million acres of Syngenta Viptera, and many of which were told that China would be approving the MIR162 trait, in a matter of days or weeks. These allegations also state this China Viptera approval never came and the release of this seed was premature.

Corn Farmers vs. Syngenta

Several U.S. corn farmers have filed class action lawsuits over Viptera corn, alleging Syngenta purposefully elected to rush its MIR162 corn trait to farmers even though Syngenta knew, or should have known, that selling the Viptera MIR162 corn seed would contaminate the U.S. corn exports, preventing U.S. corn from being sold to numerous export markets such as China.

According to this Syngenta class action lawsuit, despite concerns over Viptera acceptance, Syngenta continued to market the GMO corn to farmers, misleading them of the actual approval status.

The Syngenta class action lawsuit further claims that corporate greed drove Syngenta’s efforts to knowingly minimize the effect of its premature actions on the corn export market. While China eventually approved Viptera corn in December 2014, farmers claim the financial damage had already been done and is irreversible.

Non Producers vs. Syngenta

In addition to farmers, non-producers have also joined class action litigation against Syngenta. Non-producers allegedly injured by Syngenta’s conduct include grain elevators, which purchase, store, and sell corn; haulers and transfer companies that transfer and load corn and corn by-products; and exporters of corn and corn by-products.

These Syngenta lawsuits allege financial damage as the result of the collapse of the corn exports market to China and economic damages from reduced corn prices from costs associated with lost contracts and rejected shipments of corn.

Milo Growers vs. Syngenta

Farmers and non-producers are not the only ones affected by Syngenta’s actions. Syngenta’s rush to sell Viptera corn has also financially damaged the milo crop industry. Milo, known as grain sorghum, is an alternative gluten-free product that is also drought tolerant and is primarily used in ethanol production. While mostly harvested in the southern mid-west, the cash price for milo is set directly by corn pricing.

These Syngenta lawsuits allege that when the corn market crashed due to China’s refusal to accept Viptera corn, milo farmers were also negatively influenced and milo crop prices fell dramatically.

Legal experts are not surprised about the mounting litigation over Syngenta’s rush to promote Viptera and expect even more Viptera lawsuits will progress. Syngenta corn lawsuits allege that farms and other agricultural entities suffered economic losses as a result of the introduction of Viptera corn seed to the U.S. corn market prior to China’s approval of the genetic modification known as MIR162, which characterizes Viptera corn.

The Syngenta Lawsuits mentioned above are consolidated into the larger Syngenta MDL, In re: Syngenta AG MIR162 Corn Litigation, MDL No. 2591, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.