Crime & Public Safety
Federal and State Settlement with Corteva Cited as Win for Davenport-area Farmers
Federal and state regulators say they secured a settlement with Corteva Inc. that affects pesticide sales to farmers in the Davenport area. The Federal Trade Commission, joined by state attorneys general including Iowa’s, announced a $35 million agreement with Corteva on actions alleged to have limited competition in the pesticide market.
According to the agencies, the suit filed in 2022 alleged Corteva operated loyalty programs that paid distributors to restrict purchases of lower-priced generic pesticides and rival brands, keeping generics off shelves and preserving higher prices. The settlement requires Corteva to stop implementing distributor loyalty programs that reward purchases of Corteva ingredients over competitors for the next 10 years and bars threats or discrimination tied to exclusivity or loyalty terms, per the FTC release.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office said Iowa will receive about $2.4 million from the settlement and characterized the alleged practices as raising farmers’ costs by stifling competition. The lawsuit named another company, Syngenta, in similar claims; that portion of the litigation remains pending and was not included in the Corteva financial settlement.
Agencies involved describe this as enforcement of antitrust rules rather than a criminal prosecution. The case status for Corteva is a resolved civil settlement with monetary relief and behavioral provisions; the separate action against Syngenta is ongoing, according to the filing and releases cited by the investigating agencies.
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All individuals mentioned in criminal allegations are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.