Farmers awarded $218M in Syngenta lawsuit.

The AP (6/23, Suhr) reported a Kansas federal jury on Friday awarded nearly $218 million to farmers in a lawsuit against Syngenta for introducing a GM corn variety to China before it had been approved. Syngenta has vowed to appeal the verdict, stating that “it will only serve to deny American farmers access to future technologies even when they are fully approved in the US” and alleging that the Viptera corn is “in full compliance with US regulatory and legal requirements.”

        Reuters (6/23, Raymond) reported the farmers argued that after China had rejected the Viptera corn shipments, the loss of the Chinese market led to over $5 billion in losses for corn producers.