Reuters — A U.S. jury on Tuesday found Bayer’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide caused cancer, a blow to the company eight months after another jury issued a US$289 million verdict over similar claims in a different case. Tuesday’s unanimous jury decision in San Francisco federal court, which came after five days of deliberation, was not a […] Read more
Second U.S. jury finds Bayer’s Roundup caused cancer
Bayer reaps profit lift from Monsanto
Leverkusen, Germany | Reuters –– Bayer’s US$63 billion purchase of seed and chemical firm Monsanto made its mark on the German company’s fourth quarter earnings on Wednesday, lifting profit and boding well for the peak season of its enlarged agriculture business. However, mounting litigation risks related to Monsanto still cast a pall over an adjusted […] Read more
Brazil health officials find glyphosate non-cancerous
Brasilia | Reuters — Analysts at Brazilian health agency Anvisa have determined that glyphosate herbicide does not cause cancer while recommending exposure limits as international pressure to reduce use of the chemical grows. Companies such as Bayer and its unit Monsanto, which produces glyphosate-based weedkillers, have faced legal challenges over allegations that glyphosate causes cancer. […] Read more
DowDuPont’s Corteva arm buys Clearfield canola system
On the market since last summer, BASF’s herbicide-tolerant, non-GMO Clearfield canola business in Canada and the U.S. has landed at the door of Corteva Agriscience. Corteva, the merged seed and chemical business of Dow and DuPont, announced Wednesday it has closed a deal to buy the Clearfield system, including its herbicide-tolerant canola trait and related […] Read more
French, German farmers destroy crops after GMOs found in Bayer seeds
Paris | Reuters — Bayer said on Wednesday that farmers in France and Germany were digging up thousands of hectares of rapeseed fields after traces of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) banned for cultivation were found in seeds sold by the company. GMO crops are widely grown across the world, but they remain controversial in Europe, […] Read more
U.S. judge to allow controversial evidence in Roundup cancer trials
Reuters — A federal judge overseeing lawsuits alleging Bayer’s glyphosate-based Roundup herbicide causes cancer on Monday tentatively allowed pieces of controversial evidence that the company had hoped to exclude from upcoming trials. U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria during a hearing in San Francisco federal court called his decision “probably most disappointing for Monsanto,” the Bayer […] Read more
France’s glyphosate exit seen 80 per cent complete by 2021
Paris | Reuters — France expects to have cut the use of glyphosate herbicide by 80 per cent by early 2021, its agriculture minister said on Friday, less than previously anticipated due to the number of farmers who will qualify for an exemption. In November 2017, President Emmanuel Macron pledged to ban glyphosate in France […] Read more
Health Canada dismisses glyphosate objections
Health Canada’s 2017 decision requiring no major changes to product labels for glyphosate herbicide will stand, despite the objections filed in its wake. The federal health department said Friday it has reviewed eight notices of objection received after it released its final re-evaluation decision on glyphosate in April 2017. The objections were filed with Health […] Read more
Canola, corn, soy traits to move forward with China approvals
Approvals from China are expected to allow several major trait developments to move ahead in Canadian canola, corn and soybean fields. The Reuters news service on Tuesday reported safety certificate approvals from China’s ministry of agriculture and rural affairs for biotech traits including: Bayer’s 88302, or TruFlex canola, approved in Canada since 2012; BASF’s RF3, […] Read more
Eighteen Alberta community groups get $2,500 grant
Reading Time: < 1 minute A program that allows farmers to nominate their favourite community charity or not-for-profit group for a $2,500 grant attracted a record number of applications this year. The 2018 edition of Canada’s Farmers Grow Communities received 758 farmer applications (a 68 per cent increase from 2017) and 337 charity suggestions (a 200 per cent increase from […] Read more
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