A Kansas City, Kansas federal court will hold the first of several class-action lawsuit hearings against Syngenta over Viptera corn in June. DTN reports the first trial is scheduled for June 5th, according to a court order issued last week in the U.S. District Court of Kansas. Syngenta is facing several lawsuits regarding the MIR162 GMO strain under the name Agrisure Viptera. The lawsuits claim the company should have inspected and prevented harvested Viptera corn from being shipped to China in 2013 and 2014. Plaintiffs in the case allege Syngenta sold Agrisure Viptera, which was not approved for import by China at the time and was found in shipments of corn to China, causing significant losses to corn farmers across the United States. That’s because the discovery of MIR162 in export shipments lead to a pause in corn exports to China, a move the farmers claim depressed corn prices. All farmers in the United States who priced corn for sale after November 18th, 2013, were approved last fall as a major class in the ongoing lawsuit. DTN says many other Syngenta trials also will be scheduled in the Kansas court, in a Minnesota state court and in other courts as well.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.