Bayer CropScience to Pay Growers $750 Million to Settle Claims

Posted by |16 December 2011

The settlement agreements between Bayer CropScience and US long-grain rice growers in connection with the biotech rice litigation have taken effect.

Following the detection in 2006 of traces of biotech rice in long-grain rice harvested in several Southern US states, Europe imposed restrictions on US long-grain rice imports, even though the rice posed no food safety issues. The strain was traced back to Bayer CropScience, causing growers to file complaints against the company, citing lost export values due to biotech registration restrictions.

A sufficient number of now-verified registrations for the settlement program have been filed by growers to represent 85% of US long-grain rice acreage, a threshold point established for the agreements to become binding.

As agreed to in the settlements, Bayer CropScience will pay up to $750 million to amicably resolve claims submitted by growers. The settlement program was available to all US farmers who had been growing long-grain rice during the period of 2006 through 2010.

Source: Bayer CropScience, Edited by Content Editor Stefanie A. Toth