Sean Fagan with the group Midwest Iowa Corn Lawsuit held an informational meeting in Knoxville yesterday.
Fagan, an attorney working with one of the firm’s to build a case for a class action lawsuit, offered contracts to a few producers wishing to recoup losses Fagan alleges were incurred by Syngenta. Syngenta began offering a hybrid called Viptera in 2011 which was approved by the the USDA in 2010. However, China, the largest importer of U.S. corn had not approved Viptera when Syngenta offered it for sale to farmers. When Chinese officials discovered Viptera in U.S. corn shipments they began rejecting them. Fagan says the suit is about justice for producers. Fagan claims tens of thousands of farmers have signed on to the suit throughout the country. Midwest Iowa Corn Lawsuit is seeking restitution for farmers who lost income and wants to penalize Syngenta. Another meeting will be held at Happy Joe’s in Pella at noon on August 17th.