Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago/Berlin | Reuters — U.S. farmers are pre-buying seeds and chemicals they need earlier than normal, in a bid to secure supplies for next spring amid sector-wide supply-chain problems, a top executive at German agricultural and pharmaceuticals firm Bayer said Tuesday. Bayer also estimates its average seed prices will go up about five per cent […] Read more
Bayer sees farmers pre-buying inputs as supply-chain snarls continue
Bayer wins its first Roundup jury verdict in case of child’s cancer
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Bayer won its first trial over claims its Roundup herbicide causes cancer after a California jury found that the herbicide was not a substantial cause of a child’s rare form of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the company said on Tuesday. Destiny Clark alleged that her son Ezra developed Burkitt’s lymphoma after he was exposed to […] Read more
Bayer takes battle over Roundup cancer claims to U.S. Supreme Court
Reading Time: 2 minutes Frankfurt | Reuters — Bayer, trying to contain billions of dollars in legal costs, filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse an appeals court verdict that upheld damages to a customer blaming his cancer on the German group’s glyphosate-based herbicides. Bayer last week lost a third appeal against verdicts that sided with […] Read more
Corteva launches Brazil biotech soy, tackles Bayer head-on
Reading Time: < 1 minute Sao Paulo | Reuters – Corteva Agriscience said on Aug. 9 it will start selling biotech soybean seeds in Brazil, as it seeks to bolster its presence in the world’s largest producer of the oilseed and tackle German rival Bayer AG. Corteva said its Enlist soybean seeds can resist three weed killers including glyphosate, ammonium […] Read more
Bayer Q2 misses forecasts as costs, forex effects bite
Reading Time: 2 minutes Frankfurt | Reuters – Bayer shares fell to their lowest levels in more than seven months after the German agricultural and pharmaceuticals group reported lower-than-expected second-quarter core earnings due to higher production costs and currency headwinds. Second-quarter earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) before special items fell 10.6 percent to 2.58 billion euros ($3.05 billion), […] Read more
U.S. judge rejects Roundup settlement plan as ‘unreasonable’
Proposal would cover suits over future illnesses
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — A U.S. judge rejected Bayer’s US$2 billion class action proposal to resolve future lawsuits alleging its Roundup herbicide causes cancer, saying in a Wednesday order that parts of the plan were “clearly unreasonable.” U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco said the proposal “would accomplish a lot for Monsanto,” which Bayer […] Read more
Mexican judge rejects industry bid to halt GMO corn, glyphosate ban
Farm council warns of lost productivity
Reading Time: 2 minutes Mexico City | Reuters — A Mexican federal judge ruled against a request by the National Farm Council to freeze a government plan to ban genetically modified (GMO) corn and the widely used herbicide glyphosate by 2024, the national science council said on Monday. Judge Martin Adolfo Santos Perez’s ruling allows the executive order issued […] Read more
Federal reprieve for imidacloprid cuts its application rates
Proposal for near-total ban rejected in Health Canada's final decision
Reading Time: 4 minutes A member of the neonicotinoid family of insesticides and seed treatments has been pulled back from the brink of an all-out ban in Health Canada’s final re-evaluation ruling. Most agricultural uses of imidacloprid — sold by Bayer under brands such as Gaucho, Merit and Admire, and by Adama under brands such as Alias and Sombrero […] Read more
U.S. judge raises doubts ahead of hearing on Roundup settlement
'The last question is a killer'
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — A U.S. federal judge on Tuesday questioned a US$2 billion proposal by Bayer that would create a framework for resolving future claims that its Roundup herbicide causes cancer, casting doubt on the plan a day before a key hearing. Bayer and class action attorneys hope U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco […] Read more
Bayer, Corteva in ‘two-dog battle’ over U.S. soy market
Companies' GM soybeans jockey for market share
Reading Time: 3 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Bayer is launching a new genetically modified soybean in the United States, striking back against rival Corteva in a bid to retain its dominant position supplying seeds to the $40 billion U.S. soy industry. Billions of dollars are on the table for companies producing a growing variety of seeds for soybeans, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
