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Monsanto to Pay Pacific Northwest Wheat Farmers Over Tainted Fields

Monsanto Co. says it will pay $2.4 million to settle a dispute with farmers in the Pacific Northwest over genetically modified wheat.
Image:
A harvested wheat field outside of Moro, Or., is seen on July 19th, 2013. Over three months ago a farmer in eastern Oregon found a strain of GMO wheat in his field which led to an import ban on the wheat from Japan, South Korea, and other countries that depend on the wheat for their food supply. CREDIT: Carl Kiilsgaard/Getty Imagesfor NBC News

ST. LOUIS — Monsanto Co. says it will pay $2.4 million to settle a dispute with farmers in the Pacific Northwest over genetically modified wheat.

The discovery of the genetically modified wheat in Oregon in 2013 prompted Japan and South Korea to temporarily suspend some wheat orders, and the European Union called for more rigorous testing of U.S. shipments.

No genetically engineered wheat has been approved for U.S. farming.

Federal agriculture officials determined the wheat is the same strain as one tested by Monsanto a decade ago that was never approved.

Monsanto will put $2.1 million into a settlement fund to pay farmers in Washington, Oregon and Idaho who sold soft white wheat between May 30 and Nov. 30 last year. It also will make payments to several regional growers associations.

Image:
A harvested wheat field outside of Moro, Or., is seen on July 19th, 2013. Over three months ago a farmer in eastern Oregon found a strain of GMO wheat in his field which led to an import ban on the wheat from Japan, South Korea, and other countries that depend on the wheat for their food supply. CREDIT: Carl Kiilsgaard/Getty Imagesfor NBC News

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— The Associated Press