Seed council says bioengineered cotton caused losses; company blames cold, wet weather.
Monsanto Co. said Friday it will not pay $1.94 million to three Mississippi farmers who said the company's genetically engineered cotton was defective.
Mississippi's Seed Arbitration Council made a non-binding ruling last week that the farmers suffered damages when they used bioengineered cotton that tolerates Monsanto's Roundup Ultra herbicide.
The council said the cotton didn't tolerate the herbicide and "failed to produce or perform as represented by the labels attached to the seeds." Monsanto said the problem was caused by abnormally wet and cold weather.
The seed council's judgment was issued against Monsanto and Delta & Pine Land Co., of Scott, Miss., the largest U.S. cotton seed company and a licensee of Monsanto's "Roundup Ready" technology. The judgment also was entered against a Delta subsidiary.
Gary Barton, a Monsanto spokesman, said his company and Delta disagree with the formula used by the seed council to assess damages.
"It is Monsanto's intention to file a motion for itself and on behalf of Delta & Pine Land requesting that (the council) reconsider their non-binding recommendation," Barton said. "Other farmers who had experienced similar issues were satisfactorily accommodated outside the arbitration process."
Monsanto has settled disputes with 55 farmers who said the Roundup Ready cotton didn't perform as advertised. Barton wouldn't discuss the cost of these settlements, although an attorney for several farmers told the New York Times Tuesday that Monsanto has paid about $5 million.
The three farmers filing complaints with the seed council are the last of the growers complaining about last year's Roundup Ready cotton crop.
Barton said about 15,000 acres of Roundup Ready cotton were affected by disputes involving all cotton farmers. Monsanto's licensees sold 800,000 acres' worth of Roundup Ready cotton.
Farmers also planted 2.2 million acres of cotton genetically altered to fight pests. Another 60,000 acres contained the insect-fighting and Roundup-tolerant genes.
This year, Monsanto's licensees have planted more than 5 million acres of genetically engineered cotton.
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