Reading Time: 3 minutes Funeral services are to be held and livestreamed Saturday for Prairie farmer, businessman and activist Percy Schmeiser, best known for his ultimately unsuccessful court battles with the company behind Roundup Ready canola. Schmeiser, who farmed at Bruno, Sask., about 90 km east of Saskatoon, died Tuesday at age 89. According to Saskatchewan media, he had […] Read more
Farmer and activist Percy Schmeiser, 89
Thorn in Monsanto's side also the subject of a new major film
Bayer puts Roundup future claims settlement on hold
Judge questions proposal for third-party scientists to rule on chemical's carcinogenicity
Reading Time: 2 minutes Frankfurt | Reuters — Bayer was forced on Wednesday to delay part of a proposed settlement of allegations that its widely used herbicide Roundup caused cancer after a U.S. judge questioned its plan to deal with future claims. The German company said that lawyers representing those preparing a class action had withdrawn a request for […] Read more
Court orders big ag firms to hand over documents in antitrust probe
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — A Canadian federal court has ordered a group of major agriculture companies to hand over records and communications in an antitrust probe sparked by allegations some businesses tried to block online farm-supply startup Farmers Business Network (FBN). In a series of court orders issued Tuesday, Federal Court Justice Denis Gascon said […] Read more
Ben + Jerry’s says ‘happy cows’ lawsuit should be put to pasture
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Ben + Jerry’s said it does not deceive consumers by saying it used milk and cream from “happy cows” to make its ice cream, and that an environmental advocate’s lawsuit claiming otherwise should be dismissed. In a Monday filing seeking to end the proposed nationwide class action, Ben + Jerry’s said James Ehlers […] Read more
Teamsters seek charges against CP to cap working hours
Reading Time: 3 minutes Montreal/Toronto | Reuters — A union is taking the unusual step of pursuing contempt of court charges against Canada’s second-largest railroad, in a previously unreported case that escalates the debate over working hours for railroad employees, according to two sources and legal documents. The Teamsters union argued in court filings that Canadian Pacific Railway should […] Read more
U.S. judge to allow controversial evidence in Roundup cancer trials
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — A federal judge overseeing lawsuits alleging Bayer’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide causes cancer on Monday tentatively allowed pieces of controversial evidence that the company had hoped to exclude from upcoming trials. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria during a hearing in San Francisco federal court called his decision “probably most disappointing for Monsanto,” the Bayer […] Read more
U.S. farmers seek approval of GMO corn settlement with Syngenta
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters –– U.S. farmers suing Syngenta over its decision to commercialize a genetically modified (GMO) strain of corn before China approved importing it sought court approval on Monday of a record US$1.51 billion settlement with the Swiss seed company. The deal covers U.S. corn producers, grain handling facilities and ethanol plants nationwide that sold corn […] Read more
Mexico court rejects appeal to lift GM corn ban
Reading Time: < 1 minute Mexico City | Reuters –– A Mexican court has rejected a company’s appeal to lift a ban on commercial planting of transgenic corn in Mexico, passing the matter to the Supreme Court, a lawyer for the firm said Friday. A federal court in Mexico City rejected the suit by PHI Mexico, a unit of U.S. […] Read more
JBS gets nod from Brazil court to divest assets
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters — JBS SA has received permission from a Brazilian appeals court to sell assets as the world’s largest meatpacker copes with fallout from a corruption scandal involving the family that controls it. In a statement on Thursday, JBS said it had learned that Brazil’s Regional Federal Court of the 1st Region […] Read more
Canada to allow medical marijuana users to grow their own
Reading Time: 2 minutes Ottawa | Reuters — Medical marijuana patients in Canada will be allowed to grow a limited amount of cannabis for their own use or designate someone to grow it for them, the government said Thursday. The government had been given six months to comply with a federal court ruling that struck down the previous administration’s […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
