In the latest twist of a long-running legal battle, biotech giant Syngenta says grain companies have only themselves to blame for the market share lost in China over shipments that contained unapproved corn varieties.

 

The filing, a third-party complaint filed by Syngenta Thursday in U.S. district court in Kansas, contends that Cargill, ADM, Express Grain Terminal, and Rail Transfer Inc. are responsible for the comingling of the corn with the Viptera and Duracade traits.

 

U.S. District Judge John Lungstrum ruled in September that farmers and other stakeholders could continue pursuing some of their claims against Syngenta due to the inter-connected nature of the corn market. Syngenta may be responsible for the “timing, manner, and scope” of the commercialization of the two seed varieties in question and making sure that putting those varieties to market would not prove costly, he wrote.