Syngenta has reached an
out-of-court settlement with farmers who sued the company over lost sales to
China because Syngenta sold genetically-modified seed corn the Chinese would
not buy.
Bloomberg news agency says Syngenta AG agreed to pay
more than $1.4 billion to more than 100,000 farmers.
The deal ended court action in Minnesota this week.
Canadian lawsuits are not included in the settlement,
according to Paul Minehart, a Syngenta spokesman.
Syngenta halted the trial involving about 22,000
Minnesota farmers to announce the settlement. Those farmers were seeking more
than $400 million in damages over their corn losses.
The settlement comes three months after Syngenta lost
a $218-million jury verdict to corn growers in Kansas.
