Reporter’s notebook: Monsanto recruited farmer to speak on its behalf at 2016 meeting
Bayer and BASF are defending themselves against charges in a civil lawsuit that they intentionally caused "an ecological disaster" in order to increase their profits on dicamba-related projects.
The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting is one of the few media outlets covering each day of the groundbreaking trial as part of an in-depth project on dicamba, its makers and its impact. Your support makes this possible.
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Day 1: Dicamba on trial: Internal docs show Monsanto, BASF prepared for drift complaints prior to dicamba launch
Day 3: Monsanto executive: ‘We anticipated (drift) might happen’
Here's a look at day three of the trial, January 29, 2020.
By Johnthan Hettinger/Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The rollout of Monsanto’s dicamba-tolerant soybean and cotton seeds before the release of an accompanying herbicide was a “trainwreck,” University of Missouri weed science professor Kevin Bradley told a group of farmers in Portageville, Missouri, on July 29, 2016.
The meeting was being held in response to more than 115 complaints about herbicide drift in southeastern Missouri. Dr. Boyd Carey, who at the time was the U.S. Crop Protection Systems Lead for Monsanto, thought the presentation was objective, Carey testified Wednesday in federal court.
Carey, now the regional agronomy lead for Bayer, which brought Monsanto in 2018, was on the stand all day Wednesday in a trial of a civil lawsuit filed by Bader Farms, the largest peach farm in Missouri, against Bayer and BASF. Bader Farms, which says it is no longer a sustainable business because off-target movement of dicamba harmed its orchards, alleges that the companies intentionally created the problem in order to increase profits.
Carey did not talk at the meeting but listened to Bradley and concerns of other farmers about the drift complaints. At the time, Monsanto had released its dicamba-tolerant soybean and cotton seeds but Monsanto and BASF had not yet received U.S. EPA approval for its accompanying dicamba herbicides. In response, some farmers allegedly illegally sprayed older versions of dicamba on their crops, and the weed killer drifted and harmed other farmers’ fields.
Darren Brown, a farmer from Matthews, Missouri, who grows seeds for Monsanto to sell (including the dicamba-tolerant cotton and soybean seeds), was asked by Monsanto to go to the meeting and talk about his positive experience with the dicamba system. Brown agreed but wanted to make sure Monsanto knew the level of local controversy, according to an email from Kim Magin, the launch lead for Monsanto’s Xtend systems.
Brown also passed along information that he had heard about the issue: Roughly four growers were responsible for the majority of the damage.
Despite finding that out, Carey testified that he and no other Monsanto employees looked into Brown’s allegation. In fact, the company did not investigate any claims of drift in 2016, Carey said.
BASF official: Illegal spraying will be ‘rampant’ in 2016
The illegal spraying of older dicamba versions was on the mind of Monsanto and BASF officials at a meeting in the months before the 2016 growing season.
In 2015, Monsanto released its dicamba-tolerant cotton seeds. At that time, dicamba was not allowed to be sprayed over-the-top of any cotton seeds. Still, some farmers allegedly sprayed older versions of dicamba on the crops, allegedly causing damage to other farmers’ fields.
Dan Westberg, regional tech service manager at BASF, expressed concerns that the “widespread” illegal spraying would likely become “rampant” after Monsanto released its dicamba-tolerant soybeans in 2016. Westberg told officials that at a meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Feb. 11, 2016, Carey testified off his notes from the meeting.
Carey, who, at the time, was taking over the claims process for Monsanto’s launch of its new version of dicamba, Xtendimax with VaporGrip, said he took Westberg at his word. Carey said he didn’t do any research about the spraying in 2015. He also said he did not review any Monsanto policies and communications from 2015 to growers telling that they should not illegally spray dicamba to see if the company could improve on those communications.
Carey’s discussions with Bader
At the suggestion of Monsanto lawyers, Bill Bader, the owner of Bader Farms who filed the lawsuit, and Carey had two phone conversations, Carey testified. Carey said Bader was the only non-customer he ever called about dicamba.
In those conversations, Bader told Carey he was injured by an aerial application of dicamba from Roundup, 2,4-D and Valor, another herbicide in April 2015, Carey said. Bader told him that the FDA found the presence of dicamba in his peaches, as well as glyphosate and 2,4-D, Carey testified. Carey said Bader told him 2,4-D was found at 11 times the concentration of dicamba and glyphosate was present at five times the concentration of dicamba.
Carey testified that April 11 would have been too early for any dicamba spraying, even illegal ones, over the top of Xtend crops.
In 2016, Bader told Carey that an older version of dicamba and glyphosate had injured his crops, including 25,000 trees, Carey testified. At that time, Bader said he knew dicamba was not his only problem and also told Carey he had hired a lawyer, Carey said.
Carey reminded the jury that Monsanto did not sell any dicamba products in 2016.
‘A decent lawyer will have a field day with Mr. Bader’
On Sept. 1, 2016, Joe Sandbrink, a former Monsanto employee, emailed Carey to tell him about a legislative hearing on dicamba where Bader testified.
Sandbrink said Bader’s complaints at the hearing were hard to follow. Sandbrink wrote that Bader said the USDA tested his peaches and the results came back negative for 2,4-D and dicamba. Bader said he had a 40 percent loss due to dicamba, Sandbrink wrote.
Sandbrink said he also talked to a University of Missouri extension representative who said Bader may be looking at an “opportunity” to cash in on a problem that had already existed in his peach orchard that is not related to dicamba or herbicide drift.
“Will be interesting to see where this one goes,” Sandbrink wrote. “All I know, is a decent lawyer will have a field day with Mr. Bader if he gives a similar testimony as he gave yesterday.”
Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association report
In 2017, Illinois pesticide applicators reported problems with dicamba moving off target and damaging other crops, even when the herbicide was sprayed in good conditions. The Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association conducted the survey to gauge its members’ experience with dicamba.
More than 80 percent of respondents said they had issues even though they followed the label.
Carey, who testified about an email from Bernard Whalen that contained the survey, said Monsanto did not change anything in response to the survey.
In response to a line of questioning from Randles, Carey said Monsanto’s experience with investigating claims indicates that the problems are the applicators’ faults.
9:23 a.m. start time
Tensions over how long the trial will last are already beginning to rise.
Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. expressed frustration on Wednesday morning about how many conferences the lawyers are requesting to deal with objections on evidence.
“This is ridiculous. Six pretrial conferences, and this is not yet resolved. We are gonna stay here til midnight just to get this stuff done,” Limbaugh said. The judge then called the lead attorneys for each side up and gave a heated lecture.
Though the day was set to start at 9 a.m., the jury was not brought in until 9:23 a.m.
Later, a Monsanto lawyer objected that Billy Randles, lead attorney for Bader Farms, was being argumentative. Limbaugh overruled the objection.
When the jury left for the next break, Limbaugh said he would sustain an argumentative objection when the lawyers started yelling like he did earlier.
