By Sarah Fielder
Syngenta Agrees to $1.4 Billion to Settle Class Action Lawsuit This Tuesday Syngenta agreed to settle the claims involved in the MIR182 corn lawsuits during the on-going trial in Minnesota. This settlement comes after a jury awarded corn growers in Kansas $214 million in damages. To read more about the settlement, click here https://bloom.bg/2fPP86G.
Codfather Gets 46 Months in Prison Carlos Rafael, a fishing magnate in New Bedford, was sentenced this week to 46 months in federal prison. Rafael had been convicted of evading fishing quotas and tax evasion. To read about his exact crimes, click here http://bit.ly/2xJIKaD.
Oregon County’s GMO Ban Blocked By State Court of Appeals The Oregon Court of Appeals agreed with a lower court that a county ban of GMOs was preempted by a state law that prevented counties from passing such ordinances. The county ordinance was approved by voters in Josephine County in 2014, but the state passed a law in 2013 that banned counties from passing such ordinances. To read more about the decision, click here http://bit.ly/2wVrGue.
Former Administrator Releases a Report on Need for Crop Insurance Former Administrator Brandon Willis released a report that highlights issues with a recent report by the Heritage Foundation on their vision for farm policy. Willis’s report discusses the Heritage report and highlights potential problems with it. To read the Willis Report, click here http://bit.ly/2y6Dsao.
Save the Date for the Ag Outlook and Policy Conference The Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics annual Ag Outlook and Policy will be held on Dec. 12 at the Crowne Plaza in Annapolis. Details of the conference will be coming in October, but save the date for an informative day in Annapolis.
Reminder Crop Insurance Deadline for Small Grains Reminder to fall-seeded small grain producers in Maryland that the sales closing date or changing coverage options for crop insurance coverage is Sept. 30th. For more information on crop insurance, see AREC’s Crop Insurance page at http://go.umd.edu/CropIns. For more information on the sales closing date, see http://bit.ly/2x9DsGg.
Reminder Sales Closing Date for Coverage on Forage Crops Reminder that the sales closing date for crop insurance coverage on forage production is Sept. 30th. Coverage is available in Allegany, Baltimore, Carroll, Cecil, Frederick, Garrett, Harford, Howard, Montgomery, and Washington counties. To learn more about this sales closing date, see http://bit.ly/2wDYmf6.
Have you signed up for the 2017 Agriculture and Environmental Law Conference? This event has sold out the last two years so don’t delay- registration is now open and can be done online here.