Sean Fagan with the group Midwest Iowa Corn Lawsuit is holding an informational meeting in Knoxville today.
Midwest Corn Lawsuit is a group suing the seed company Syngenta for allegedly contributing to recent losses in corn prices. Syngenta began offering a hybrid called Viptera in 2011 which was approved by the the USDA in 2010. However, China, the largest importer of U.S. corn had not approved Viptera when Syngenta offered it for sale to farmers. When Chinese officials discovered Viptera in U.S. corn shipments they began rejecting them. Fagan alledges this rejection is significant factor in the four dollar drop in the corn price. Midwest Iowa Corn Lawsuit is seeking restitution for farmers who lost income and wants to penalize Syngenta. Local meetings will be held today at noon at Knoxville City Hall at Happy Joe’s in Pella at noon on August 17th.