Market News & Headlines >> Syngenta Settles with Farmers Over GMO Corn

Seed manufacturer Syngenta AG has reached a tentative settlement with U.S. farmers who sued the firm over the launch of its Agrisure Viptera (MIR 162) and Agrisure Duracade corn traits, the company said on Tuesday. 

The company has agreed to pay more than $1.4 billion to U.S. farmers who complained the marketing of the company's genetically modified corn seeds shut them out of the Chinese market, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the deal. 

Syngenta sold the genetically engineered corn varieties to producers for planting before they were approved for import by China, which subsequently rejected numerous shipments of U.S. corn containing MIR 162, starting in November 2013. 

The settlement with more than 100,000 farmers was announced in a Minnesota class-action trial. It resolves all farmers’ litigation in the U.S. but doesn’t include Canadian lawsuits, Paul Minehart, a Syngenta spokesman told Bloomberg. 

In a release on its website, Syngenta said the agreement, which is subject to court approval, establishes a settlement fund for the submission of claims by farmers who contracted to price corn or corn byproducts after Sept. 15, 2013. Information concerning the settlement fund, claims process, and other details will become available after the parties execute and submit the proposed settlement agreement and other papers to the court later this year.