Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/category/dicamba-on-trial/)
German agribusiness companies Bayer and BASF face allegations in a civil lawsuit that they created circumstances that damaged millions of acres of crops by the weed killer dicamba in order to increase profits from a set of new dicamba-related products offered for sale beginning in 2015.
A trial of the lawsuit, originally filed in November 2016 by southeastern Missouri peach farmer Bill Bader, began Jan. 27, 2020, and is expected to last two to three weeks. The lawsuit initially named Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer in 2018.
The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting is one of the few media outlets covering each day of the groundbreaking trial as part of an in-depth project on dicamba, its makers and its impact.
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The $265 million verdict issued last week against German agribusiness giants Bayer and BASF is just the beginning of a new legal battle between the companies and thousands of farmers.
This week, a federal jury ordered Monsanto (Bayer) and BASF to pay $265 million to Bader Farms, Missouri's largest peach producer, for damages to its peach trees.
The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting discussed the outcome with Chris Hohn, a partner at Thompson Coburn, which represented Bayer in the case.
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - A federal jury determined that German agribusiness giants Bayer and BASF will have to pay $250 million in punitive damages to Bader Farms, the largest peach farm in Missouri, for damage caused by their dicamba-related products. The verdict comes at the end of a three-week trial of a case where Bader Farms alleges it is going out of business because of damage incurred by the companies' dicamba herbicides moving off of neighboring fields and harming their 1,000 acres of peach orchards.
On Friday, the jury ruled that both Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer in 2018, and BASF acted negligently and Bader Farms should receive $15 million in actual damages for future losses incurred because of the loss of their orchard.
Read also Reporter’s notebook: Five key takeaways from trial of peach farmer’s lawsuit vs. Bayer, BASF
Bader Farms will receive a total of $265 million. BASF and Bayer will have to sort out what portion of the damages each company pays.
Bader Farms is among thousands of farms, comprising millions of acres of crops, that have alleged dicamba damage since 2015.
With closing arguments set for 9 a.m. Friday, here's the biggest news items coming out of the three-week trial of the lawsuit filed by Bader Farms against Bayer and BASF.
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - A federal jury found in favor of Bader Farms on all counts in a lawsuit against Bayer and BASF. On Friday, the jury awarded $15 million of the requested $20.9 million in damages requested by Bader Farms.
On Saturday, the jury also awarded Bader Farms $250 million in punitive damages. The verdicts come at the end of a three-week trial of a case filed by Missouri’s largest peach farm against German agribusiness giants BASF and Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018, over damage allegedly caused by their pesticide dicamba."We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict. While we have empathy for Mr. Bader, Monsanto’s products were not responsible for the losses sought in this lawsuit and we look forward to appealing the decision," Bayer said in a statement shortly after Saturday's verdict was issued. Campbell-based Bader Farms alleges that BASF and Monsanto knew their dicamba-related products would cause damage to other farms and released them anyway to increase demand for their products.
Bader Farms’ harvest dropped from an average of 162,000 bushels in the early 2000s to as low as 12,000 bushels in 2018.
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - Closing arguments are set for 9 a.m. Friday in the federal trial of a lawsuit alleging Monsanto and BASF intentionally caused widespread damage to farms in order to bolster sales of a new pesticide and seed system. Bader Farms, the largest peach farm in Missouri, alleges that the companies, through the release of the new products built around the pesticide dicamba, are responsible for irreparable damage to its 1,000 acres of peach trees. Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018, and BASF deny the allegations that dicamba is volatile when used correctly. The companies blame the issues at Bader Farms on other issues, including soil fungus and weather events.
The cropping system, designed to help farmers kill weeds that are increasingly resistant to the pesticide glyphosate, was hailed as the next generation of farming.
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - A retired BASF executive told a federal jury on Tuesday that the company never intended to enter into a “joint venture” with Monsanto over the dicamba-tolerant cropping system that was released beginning in 2015.
“We didn’t want to be exposed to Monsanto’s losses,” said Alyson Emanuel, who in her then-role as vice president of global strategic marketing for herbicides helped negotiate the contracts between BASF and Monsanto that governed the relationship. In an effort to combat growing weed resistance, Monsanto genetically engineered soybean and cotton seeds that could withstand being sprayed by dicamba, a volatile herbicide that has been used since the 1960s. The two companies also developed new versions of the pesticide designed to be less volatile. BASF and Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, are being sued by Bader Farms, the largest peach farm in Missouri, over the dicamba-tolerant cropping system, which has allegedly damaged millions of acres of crops since its release.
For the past two weeks of a federal trial brought by Missouri’s largest peach farm against German agribusiness giants Bayer and BASF, the focus has been on the weed killer dicamba.
On Monday, with the plaintiff wrapping up its case, lawyers representing Monsanto shifted the attention to everything but the herbicide. Monsanto was bought by Bayer in 2018,
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - In July 2016, Bill Bader, frustrated by the second straight year of alleged dicamba damage to his peach trees, got out his invoice book and hand wrote bills to his neighbors he suspected of illegally spraying the herbicide: $720,000 to one, $660,000 to another and $1.2 million to a third, according to testimony in federal court this week.
Bader wrote out the biggest bill - $3.3 million for damages to peaches and the environment - to Monsanto, the St. Louis-based agribusiness company he blamed for the damage from the volatile weed killer. “I made a mistake, and I was blowing off steam,” Bader testified on Wednesday in the second week of a trial of a lawsuit he filed against German agribusiness giants Bayer, which bought Monsanto in 2018, and BASF. “I was hoping to get their attention.”
Bader Farms, the largest peach producer in Missouri, is seeking $20.9 damages.
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The air in parts of the Midwest and South has become so contaminated with the weed killer dicamba that it has caused widespread damage to soybeans and other crops in recent summers, testified Dr. Ford Baldwin, a professor emeritus of weed science at the University of Arkansas in federal court on Thursday. Amid the pollution, thousands of farmers have filed complaints about cupping leaves, stunted growth and lower yields. Among those is Bill Bader, the owner of the largest peach farmer in Missouri, who is suing German agribusiness giants Bayer and BASF, alleging they created the situation with the release of their joint dicamba cropping system.
The lawsuit alleges that the companies released their dicamba-related products beginning in 2015 knowing that it would result in damage to farms, creating more demand for their products.
The contamination is occurring because so many farmers are spraying so much of the weed killer at the same time that it builds up in the air to high enough levels that it is unable to dissipate, Baldwin said. Small amounts of the weed killer volatize, or turn into gas, and in stable atmospheric conditions, what is effectively an invisible cloud of weed killer spreads across the landscape, he said.