Class action status granted in Sygenta lawsuit
Class action status has been granted to corn farmers who filed suit against Syngenta. Judge John Lungstrum, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, issued the ruling on Sept. 26, according to Texas Agriculture Law.
U.S. corn farmers and various agribusinesses filed suit against Syngenta in 2014, after China rejected 2013 corn shipments containing Viptera and Duracade corn, a Syngenta product approved for use in the U.S. but not for export to China. Viptera and Duracade contain the presence of a genetic trait called MIR-162.
Essentially, the lawsuits claim Syngenta wrongly marketed the product in the U.S. before China had approved imports. Although cases were filed in various courts across the nation, the cases were consolidated in a multi-district litigation case in the District of Kansas.
Most of the initial lawsuits were filed by producers who did not plant Sygenta’s products, alleging financial damages resulted when the U.S. average corn price declined after China rejected U.S. corn export shipments.
Studies by the National Grain and Feed Association and the North American Export Grain Association, published in April 2014, estimated damages of at least $1 billion and as much as $2.9 billion. That study projected preliminary market losses to producers of at least 11 cents per bushel, and recent estimates now set that loss at 20-30 cents or more per bushel.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys claim the losses to be over $5 billion.
The court’s order certified nine classes: a nationwide class of all plaintiffs and statewide classes in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and South Dakota.
Syngenta is reportedly considering an appeal.
Appeals Court sends fertilizer facility requirements back to OSHA
A U.S. Court of Appeals has ruled the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) failed to follow proper legal administrative processes when revising safety requirements for some crop fertilizer storage and sales facilities, according to the Maryland Risk Management Education Blog.
OSHA’s original standards, developed in 1992, exempted retail facilities from some safety standards as long as more than half the income was obtained from direct sales to end users. The assumption was retail facilities stored and handled small volumes of hazardous materials. The exemption, however, did not discriminate if storing large quantities or if the retailer sold wholesale to end-users.
Following a 2013 explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant, OSHA revised the safety guideline exemptions in 2015, without providing notice or holding a public comment period. The revised standards would have removed up to 4,800 facilities from the exemption list.
The Agricultural Retailers Association, Fertilizer Institute and other individual businesses brought a petition to review OSHA’s narrowed definition of “retail facility.”
OSHA admitted the rule had not gone through the notice-and-comment process, but argued the agency had only changed an interpretation of an existing standard that did not require notice and comment.
On review, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Washington D.C. held that OSHA had not followed the required processes in the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act).
OSHA must now go back and use a notice-and-comment period to implement the revised definition, considering the comments before issuing the final revised definition.
Drought leads to organic grazing variances in Northeast
With drought impacting organic livestock producers in the Northeast, USDA granted a temporary grazing variance for the 2016 grazing season in several states.
USDA reduced the required organic grazing season to 100 days in Connecticut, 90 days in Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Pennsylvania, and 60 days in Massachusetts, down from the 120 days required annually under the National Organic Program standards. The reduced standards apply to non-irrigated pasture acreage only.
Northwest ag land sales historically low
Limited availability and low commodity prices are creating headwinds for northwest agricultural land values, according to a Northwest Farm Credit Services quarterly market snapshot.
As of Sept. 30, land transactions are lagging year-ago levels and remain at historically low levels. A majority of sales are occurring between landlords and existing agriculture operators. Demand continues to be strong for good-quality irrigated and dry cropland.
Through the first nine months of 2016, cropland sales were averaging about $6,500 per acre across Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington, up slightly from 2015. The highest prices were in Washington, at nearly $8,500 per acre, with lowest prices in Montana, averaging less than $3,000 per acre.
Pasture values – impacted by demand from agricultural producers as well as recreation and development – were mixed but mostly stable. Investor interest remains strong, with demand and market activity mixed and generally dependent on property type or market segment.
USDA Food Safety Inspection Service issues grass-fed label guidance
USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) released a guidance document to ward against misleading label claims for meat produced under grass-fed standards, according to the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC).
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) had previously overseen a voluntary label program for grass-fed livestock products. However, AMS withdrew the standard earlier this year, claiming FSIS was actually the agency with the legal standing to oversee the label claim.
Following AMS’ revocation of the standard, NSAC, allied agricultural and consumer organizations urged FSIS to adopt the rescinded AMS standard.
Under the newly released guidance, any label claim using the term “grass-fed” must meet a 100 percent grass-fed standard. In addition, FSIS required access to pasture during the growing season as part of the grass-fed definition. This was not part of the original AMS standard, but is certainly a valuable addition.
NSAC wasn’t completely happy. FSIS can still approve lesser label claims, such as “75 percent grass-fed” or “80 percent grass-fed” under the guidelines.
Crop inputs pressured by lower commodity prices
With lower commodity prices, U.S. farmers are cutting fertilizer, seed and crop chemical purchases, according to the Northwest Farm Credit Services (FCS) Crop Inputs Market Snapshot. This burden on farmers to cut costs is spreading across the supply chain.
USDA now estimates farmers will spend $15.5 billion on all purchased inputs in 2016, down 5.7 percent from a year ago.
As a result, fertilizer, seed and chemical producers and ag retailers are under growing pressure to find cost efficiencies and new sources of revenue as they watch profits shrink or turn negative. Suppliers must also contend with a strong U.S. dollar that encourages imports of competing products, adding further pressure to prices and profits.
Fertilizer prices are expected to decline further in the months ahead, with only seasonal recoveries expected. With farmers continuing to delay fertilizer purchases until as late as possible, ag retailers and wholesalers will be gun-shy about building inventories with demand so uncertain.
New nitrogen (N) production capacity in the U.S. will compete with imports. The opposite has been true for potash, with mines having been idled as fertilizer producers cut costs, clear excess inventory and maintain prices. Given the current supply abundance, prices are likely to remain weak.
The combination of flat or falling crop nutrient prices and a mostly flat fertilizer consumption trend has triggered a wave of consolidation through the industry in recent months. The merger and aquisition boom has also enveloped the seed and crop protection space.
Regardless of regulatory decisions regarding those mergers, the forces to consolidate across the industry will remain in place with low commodity prices continuing to pressure farm income. 
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Dave Natzke
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