Producers who are part of a corn class-action lawsuit that resulted in a $1.51 billion settlement with Syngenta will start receiving partial payments this month.
Settlement class counsel asked the federal court presiding over the matter for permission to make the partial payments to help farmers “struggling with the current economic situations and because a relatively small number of claims are still being processed, which precludes final payments,” according to the class counsel.
Beginning “on or around March 20,” interim payment checks will be mailed to producers and landlords, who will receive about 65% of their estimated total settlement amount, and grain handling facilities and ethanol production facilities, which will get about half their estimated total settlement. The total average payment for most farmers will exceed $5,000.
The settlement came after thousands of producers sued over Syngenta’s marketing and commercialization of Agrisure Viptera and Agrisure Duracade corn seed before it had been approved in China, which they alleged depressed the price for their corn.
For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com.
