Syngenta caused a disruption in the export market for American corn in 2013 and 2014. Many farmers think their losses are limited to the crop years 2013 and 2014. However, the losses are much broader.
By 2013, Syngenta’s GMO trait MIR-162 had only been planted by about 3 percent of American corn farmers. However, the traits had contaminated all American corn being exported. As a consequence, countries like China, which had not approved the MIR-162 trait for import, banned the import of American corn. This resulted in dramatic price drops for the corn farmers all across the mid-west. The first shipments of American corn destroyed by China had arrived in China in early June 2013. China continued to reject contaminated American con throughout 2013 and into 2014, until MIR-162 was approved for import to China in December 2014.
I recently had a farmer at a town hall meeting in Grand Island, Nebraska ask “Do I have a claim, as I rented my farm on a share and I was paid with corn as rent in 2011 and 2012 but in 2013 and 2014 my renter grew soy beans and no corn?” I asked when he sold his corn and he said “I sold my corn in 2014.” This landlord has a claim because even though his corn was grown in an earlier year (2011 and 2012), he sold it during a period when the prices were artificially depressed by Syngenta’s contamination of the corn supply. Thus, corn grown in 2011 or 2012 can be the basis for a claim, if it was sold after the price drop began in June 2013.
Additionally, assume a farmer grew corn in 2015 but not in 2013 or 2014. This farmer still has a claim. Even after China began purchasing American corn again in December 2014, price disruption will still linger for some time. Look at the real estate market after the price collapse in 2007. It took many years for excess inventories to be reduced in the real estate market. The same affect is being seen in 2015 in the corn market. There are still excess corn supplies in the market place. Some farmers have held onto corn longer than they would have otherwise due to the low prices. This excess inventory is holding prices down in 2015. Thus farmers who sold corn in 2015 should consider filing a claim.
Written by:*
Jon Givens
Watts Guerra LLP
4 Dominion Drive, Bldg. 3, Suite 100
San Antonio, Texas 78257
Phone (210) 447-0500
email jgivens@guerrallp.com
*This information is provided to supply relevant information concerning the subject matter of this article, and should not be received as legal advice. Legal advice is only given to persons or entities with whom Watts Guerra LLP has established an attorney-client relationship. Available causes of action and remedies vary from case to case and depend on the underlying facts of each. If you have another lawyer, you should consult with your own attorney, and rely upon his or her advice, rather than the information contained herein.
© Watts Guerra LLP 2015
