Local farmers part of lawsuits against GMO firm

Two farming operations in Stoddard County are plaintiffs in class-action lawsuits filed recently by three law firms on behalf of U.S. corn farmers in Missouri and 19 other states who maintain they have suffered economic losses from genetically modified corn marketed by Switzerland-based Syngenta.

The lawsuits were filed in federal court in St. Louis and Kansas City, Kansas.

Attorney Don Downing, a native of Kennett, Missouri, was the colead counsel in similar multidistrict litigation on behalf of U.S. rice farmers who suffered losses from genetically modified rice seed that resulted in a $750 million settlement.

Downing is an attorney at Gray, Ritter & Graham P.C. The firm is joined in the lawsuits by the law firms of Gray Reed & McGraw P.C. and Hare Wynn Newell & Newton. The three firms filed their complaints Nov. 11 in federal court in St. Louis and Kansas City, and amended them Dec. 18 to include 20 states, making it the most comprehensive action taken on the issue to date. These 20 states represent 86 percent of the corn planted in the United States in 2014.

Plaintiffs from Stoddard County are Kenneth Bell, Nathan Bell, Shawan Farms LLC, Bell AGCO, NAKE LLC and SANA LLC, partners of Bottoms Farms Partnership in Stoddard County. Zachary Bell and Madeline Bell, Margaux Madenwald and Austin B. Madenwald are listed as partners of Triple BG Partnership in Stoddard County. The Madewalds are residents of Kansas. They, along with JPPL Inc., NEBCO Inc. and Triple BG Partnership, plant about 1,500 acres in corn annually. None of the Stoddard County farmers has knowingly planted Agrisure Viptera or Agrixure Dureacade corn. The lawsuit states, "They are not claiming any loss other than market price loss."

The class-action lawsuits accuse Syngenta of causing economic harm to corn growers after the company marketed two genetically modified strains of corn that have been outlawed in China. China, a major importer of U.S. corn, began refusing shipments of U.S. corn one year ago after a genetic trait found in Viptera -- MIR162 -- was detected in the shipments.

The news release says the loss of the Chinese market caused prices for U.S. corn to plummet. Losses to corn growers and the industry from the loss of the Chinese market were estimated to be from $1 billion to $2.9 billion, the news release alleges. The corn growers' financial losses continue to grow, the filing states.

A news release from Syngenta on Dec. 22 announced it has received the safety certificate for its Agrisure Viptera trait (event MIR162) from China's regulatory authorities, formally granting import approval. The approval covers corn grain and processing byproducts, such as dried distillers grains (DDGs), for food and feed use. Agrisure Viptera has been approved for cultivation in the U.S. since 2010 and approved for cultivation in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Paraguay and Uruguay, the release said.