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Jury says Bayer should pay $1.5M to rice farmers

By AP Wire Reports

Posted: Feb 6, 2010 10:20 PM
Updated: Feb 6, 2010 10:29 PM

A federal court jury at St. Louis says the German conglomerate Bayer CropScience should pay $1.5 million to farmers in Arkansas and Mississippi whose rice seed was contaminated with a genetically altered strain.

Friday's verdict was the second against Bayer CropScience for losses sustained by farmers when an experimental variety of rice that Bayer was testing infiltrated the farmers' crops.

In December, a jury awarded about $2 million to two Missouri farmers in December, and three additional test cases are scheduled for later this year, involving farmers from Louisiana and Texas as well as a rice exporter. No punitive damages were awarded in either of the two verdicts reached so far.

Japan, the European Union and other customers stopped importing Arkansas rice, which drove down the price Arkansas farmers received.

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