by Chris Clayton, DTN Ag Policy Editor
OMAHA (DTN) — Several land-grant universities will get added funds for wheat research or other wheat-related programs thanks to a pair of separate announcements Wednesday.
To settle several court cases, Monsanto Co. is giving $50,000 to land-grant universities in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi — a total of $350,000. The funds will be used by the universities to “further the interests of wheat farmers and the wheat industry” in those states.
Monsanto will work with universities to see what the best value would be for using the funds, whether it is for research or scholarships. “It might differ from school to school,” said Sam Murphey, a spokesman for Monsanto.
The money settles several lawsuits from farmers stemming from the discovery of unapproved Roundup-Ready wheat on a farm in Oregon that led to export bans on soft white wheat. Monsanto already settled lawsuits with soft white wheat farmers last November, agreeing to pay $2.125 million to farmers and donate another $250,000 to a variety of wheat-grower organizations.
Farmers outside of Oregon filed suits arguing the Roundup-Ready wheat discovery hurt wheat exports and prices for all wheat farmers.
“Rather than paying the costs of protracted litigation, this agreement puts that money to work in research and development efforts for the wheat industry,” said Kyle McClain, Monsanto chief litigation counsel. “Resolution in this manner is reasonable and in the best interest of all of the parties.”
Monsanto noted another case remains pending in Arkansas.
Under the settlement, individual farmers would not receive any payment, but Monsanto will reimburse plaintiffs and their lawyers a portion of out-of-pocket costs and fees associated with this litigation.
GENERAL MILLS AND K-STATE COLLABORATE
In a separate announcement Wednesday, Kansas State University officials unveiled a research agreement with General Mills to develop new wheat varieties. KSU said the project “will pump more than $400,000 into wheat development at the university.”
The project will work on developing wheat varieties with improved nutritional, milling and baking qualities, the university stated.
“Kansas State has unique capabilities to connect wheat research all the way from genomics to milling and baking, which makes us a strong partner for these types of research projects,” said Jesse Poland, K-State assistant professor of plant pathology.
Poland is also director of the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Applied Wheat Genomics — a five-year, $5 million project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development — and associate director of the university's Wheat Genetics Resource Center.
General Mills has placed two full-time scientists in the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center on the Kansas State's main campus in Manhattan.
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