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Federal judge dismisses chemical price-fixing lawsuit

A federal judge in Missouri has dismissed an antitrust lawsuit against major crop seed and chemical companies, ruling a lack of sufficient evidence they conspired to fix prices on crop chemical products.

In her decision, Judge Sarah Pitlyk faulted the plaintiffs for using generalizations to prove the companies schemed to collectively boycott electronic crop inputs. She said the allegations did not rebut the claims of Bayer, Corteva and Syngenta of using legitimate business practices for profitability.

The case includes lawsuits dating to 2021, with farmers and others accusing the companies of being pressured by wholesalers and retailers to keep their products from being sold through e-commerce platforms.

In a statement, Bayer said “it believes crop input markets are competitive, fair and diverse” and that growers “have many options to purchase agricultural products.” The company said it welcomes any business that enables them to better support growers.