Agribusiness

EPA emails show agency approved Monsanto herbicide label changes after consulting with company

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As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency prepared to make label changes for the herbicide dicamba after it caused widespread crop damage, the agency depended on the herbicide’s maker for guidance, documents produced in a federal lawsuit show.

A review of more than 800 pages of documents from a lawsuit filed against the U.S. EPA in January 2017 highlight the process behind how the agency made the label changes.

Labor

Migrant farm workers file class action lawsuit against Monsanto

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A federal class action lawsuit on behalf of two migrant farm workers was filed in federal court last week accusing Monsanto of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Agricultural Workers Protection Act in its treatment of farmworkers who help produce seed corn.

Monsanto, seed-corn companies continue use of contractors despite allegations of migrant labor abuses

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A two-year investigation by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting found repeated allegations of labor violations over the past decade against Monsanto, its counterpart in GMO corn production, DuPont Pioneer, other seed companies, and the companies’ contractors.

A review of federal documents, lawsuits and Monsanto records – and interviews with advocates and experts – shows repeated allegations of broken recruiting promises, minimum-wage violations, improperly withheld pay and substandard living conditions in seed-corn production of Monsanto and Pioneer.

Chemicals

U.S. cities sue Monsanto over chemical pollution

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San Jose and Spokane have filed lawsuits seeking damages associated from chemical pollution allegedly caused decades ago by a former version of the agribusiness giant Monsanto. The two public nuisance lawsuits claim the seed company should be on the hook for water contamination costs related to dangerous cancer-causing chemicals known as polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs.

Government

Settlement payments for black farmers in years-old lawsuit now released

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Timothy Pigford sued the United states Department of Agriculture in 1997 because he believed black producers were being denied loans. Pigford's case resulted in the largest civil rights settlement in the history of the United States. Yet, many black producers who joined the settlement have only recently received their portion of the settlement.