Local corn producers were invited to learn more about a regional lawsuit against Syngenta.
Anna Hardin with Mauro Archer and Associates, one of many legal firms behind the Midwest Corn Lawsuit, tells KNIA/KRLS News the group is alleging Syngenta, one of the world’s largest agribusiness and seed companies, contributed to significant losses for farmers a few years ago after introducing a product into the market not approved by the Chinese government, a large importer of American corn. She says a trait created by the organization was rejected by China and other countries despite numerous producers receiving the okay to use the seed prior to approval from other traders.
“It was marketed to farmers and they told farmers at the time they had received import approval from China,” she says. “China had not actually gone through those steps at the time, so in 2013 once U.S. corn got over to China, they were testing the shipments and found that the shipments had this type of corn in it.”
Hardin says farmers who planted any type of corn during that time frame could be eligible for compensation, depending on the end result of the suit.
“It only represents about three percent of the market, but everything gets mixed in, whether that’s on farmer’s facilities, at the grain elevators, on the barges, and so on, so it’s impossible to pick out one ear of corn or one kernel that is this type of corn. Because of that, the market was oversaturated — China and other countries either ended up destroying or reject 3.3 metric tons of U.S. corn.”
She says the goal is to get farmers some of the money they lost due to the sharp decline in crop prices that followed.
There are lawsuits pending against Syngenta in 22 states. Click here for more about the lawsuit.