Reading Time: 2 minutes More than two dozen farmers are moving ahead with legal action against Purely Canada Foods after it failed to honour contracts for gluten-free oats. The dispute centres on 2022 gluten-free oat contracts. On March 1, 2023, the company sent a letter to the farmers saying it was voiding the contracts because oat processing machinery had failed the previous fall and it couldn’t accept the crop.
Court remedy sought for unfulfilled contracts
Sask. company claims equipment breakdown at a third-party mill caused it to declare force majeure on contracted oats
France passes law to protect farmers against neighbours’ complaints over noise and smells
Some 500 farmers are facing lawsuits from neighbors irate over agricultural smells, noise
Reading Time: 2 minutes The country has a history of conflicts between former city dwellers buying country houses and then complaining about roosters crowing, dogs barking, the noise of agricultural machinery or the smell of manure.
JBS to pay US$25 million in latest beef price-fixing settlement
Settlement calls for co-operation in cases against other defendants
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — JBS SA has agreed to pay US$25 million to commercial beef purchasers that accused the meat-packing company of conspiring with industry rivals to restrict market supply in order to keep prices artificially high. The proposed settlement in Minnesota federal court was disclosed on Friday from plaintiffs’ lawyers representing a class of businesses that […] Read more
Bayer, BASF win new trial on damage award in U.S. dicamba suit
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Bayer and BASF have won a new trial on US$60 million in punitive damages they were ordered to pay a Missouri peach farmer who said dicamba, a herbicide they produced, drifted onto his orchard and harmed his crops. The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that a federal jury was wrongly told […] Read more
U.S. EPA ordered to reassess glyphosate impact on health, environment
Decision doesn't prohibit Roundup's use
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was ordered by a federal appeals court on Friday to take a fresh look at whether glyphosate, the active ingredient in Bayer’s Roundup herbicide, poses unreasonable risks to humans and the environment. In a 3-0 decision, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with several environmental, farmworker […] Read more
JBS reaches ‘icebreaker’ settlement of beef price-fixing claims
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — JBS has agreed to pay US$52.5 million to settle litigation accusing meatpacking companies of conspiring to limit supply in the $63 billion-a-year U.S. beef market in order to inflate prices and boost profit. The preliminary settlement by the Brazilian company and its U.S. units with so-called direct purchasers was disclosed on Tuesday, and […] Read more
Supreme Court asks U.S. government for views on Roundup case
Reading Time: 3 minutes Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday asked President Joe Biden’s administration for its views on whether the justices should hear Bayer’s bid to dismiss claims by customers who contend its Roundup herbicide causes cancer, as the company seeks to avoid potentially billions of dollars in damages. Bayer in August filed a […] Read more
Bayer wins second straight verdict in a Roundup cancer case
Plaintiff's settlement demands unreasonable, company said
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — A California jury found that Bayer’s Roundup herbicide was not the cause of a woman’s non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Bayer said on Thursday, delivering the chemical giant its second trial victory over claims the popular herbicide causes cancer. The jury in San Bernardino County found that Donnetta Stephens’ cancer was not caused by her exposure […] Read more
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
So sue me! Farm litigation is on the rise in Canada
Can you survive a legal attack from an angry neighbour?
Reading Time: 8 minutes It used to be a cheeky way of saying “C’mon, get over it.” Somebody might complain that you took the last donut, or that you stepped on their toe. And you’d reply, “So, sue me!” Not anymore. Across farm country, the phrase now is deadly earnest. Farming is no longer the isolated, rural occupation it […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
