Syngenta faces class-action lawsuits
Mid-county Crop Management Tools to help farmers manage crops efficiently
Brad Buehler
AGRONOMY
Syngenta faces class-action lawsuits
After corn prices dropped in 2013 and 2014, farmers and farm-related businesses have been pursuing class-action lawsuits against Syngenta, a global company that produces agriculture chemicals and seeds.
The issue surfaced in 2013, when Syngenta marketed a genetically-modified seed called Agrisure Viptera, which controls pests such as the European corn borer. This product had been approved in the US, but not in China.
According to a September 2015 article in Agriculture. com, Syngenta’ s commercial traits manager, Duane Martin said China was not considered a key market for US corn when Viptera was first introduced in 2010.
Most US farmers didn’ t use Syngenta’ s unapproved seeds, but their corn was
mixed together during storage / shipping. As a result, China rejected all corn from the US, which is said to have contributed to a decrease in the market price of US corn, regardless of variety.
“ Most US farmers didn’ t use Syngenta’ s unapproved seeds, but their corn was mixed together during storage / shipping.”
In 2014, Syngenta introduced another seed, Duracade, before approval from China. Agriculture. com reports that U. S. farmers planted around 200,000 acres of Duracade corn in 2015, and the number is predicted to stay steady next year.
Corn prices fell 40 percent in 2013, the most of all commodities in the Standard & Poor’ s GSCI Spot Index, according to a Bloomberg Business article.
USA Today reports that the average price of corn was a record high $ 6.89 per bushel in 2012, versus $ 4.50 per bushel in 2013.
The article states that the nation’ s corn harvest was down in 2012, due to drought, sending prices up. An abundant crop the following year was stated to have contributed to the price decline in 2013.
Syngenta has operations in Minnesota, and is based in Switzerland. The company got into the seed-coating market more than 35 years ago.
According to an Associated Press article, agriculture-related businesses in 20 states had filed more than 360 lawsuits against Syngenta as of February 2015.
Mid-county Crop Management Tools to help farmers manage crops efficiently
Brad Buehler
Brad Buehler has been a custom applicator at Mid County Agronomy since Aug. 3. He grew up on a beef feedlot farm in Storm Lake, IA, and went to college for animal science at South Dakota State University. He then moved to Colorado to work on a farm with 125,000 head of cattle. While there, he met his wife, who is originally from California. The couple later moved to southern Iowa, where Brad began working as a custom applicator. They moved to Arlington this summer, due to Brad’ s wife’ s promotion as a safety manager. Brad is enjoying his time in Minnesota so far, and is looking forward to ice fishing this winter and setting up an area for blacksmithing.
Although you can’ t be with your crops 24 / 7, you can easily keep an eye on them with Mid-County Crop Management.
This year, we’ ve incorporated the Climate Basic TM and Climate Pro TM software into our program for added benefit. The scouting feature lets you see pictures of your fields, so you can easily pinpoint trouble spots. Whether it’ s a dry patch, a low area, or a section that’ s in need of extra fertilizer, you’ ll have the data to allocate your resources efficiently, and take action before it reduces your yield.
With our standard crop management package our scouts provide updates on crop health, projected pest threats, and field conditions. You also receive text and email notifications regarding rain totals and hail alerts. Rainfall is measured field-by-field,
ensuring that you are receiving the most accurate information for your operation.
The elite package provides all of the benefits of the standard, plus other yield optimization tools. Each field is identified via satellite, providing current and historical images to help correct yield issues. Another advantage of the elite package is nitrogenlevel tracking to prevent a potential deficiency.
Mid-County’ s Crop Management program is for farms of all sizes. Some of our customers have less than 50 acres, while others operate more than 2,000.
Give us a call today at( 952) 466-3730 if you’ re interested in signing up or learning more about what our crop management system can do for you.
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