ONTARIO GRAIN FARMER INDUSTRY NEWS 15 However, that installment is one of several: March 7: a story in Reuters cited a threat by Bayer that it could stop selling Roundup in the U.S, repeating a commonly-cited line that there were “67,000 further cases pending for which (Bayer) has set aside $5.9 billion in legal provisions” and that the company “would internally separate the glyphosate business from the rest of the Crop Protection division”. March 25: a report from Dow Jones Morningstar noted Bayer’s share price dropped by seven per cent after a $2.1 billion ruling by a jury in Georgia. March 26: AgWeb’s Tyne Morgan wrote of five American farmers taking part in the confirmation hearings to appoint Robert Kennedy Jr. as HHS Secretary. The feedback from the growers was positive, but any loss in American-based production of glyphosate would require farmers to purchase their product from China or India. April 7: Bayer issued its own news release about a writ with the U.S. Supreme Court to review lawsuits against the use of Roundup. The release cited security and affordability of the food supply, depending on innovative agricultural tools like Roundup. April 21: In a contribution to Post Media, Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University echoed Bayer’s threat that it might halt production of glyphosate. However, he oversimplified the notion of creating a “replacement for glyphosate that is both effective and aligned with societal expectations,” ignoring the necessary years of research and development, testing and regulatory requirements and the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars. May 13: From another company news release, Bayer pledged to stop manufacturing generic products in Germany. It recognized the production of generic crop protection products in Asia, and its overcapacity in recent years has resulted in lower prices, some of which are below the cost of production for products in Europe. May 19: A story from news service Axios provided a back-and-forth breakdown of Robert Kennedy Jr.’s anticipated 'Make America Healthy Again' (MAHA) report, detailing the products he could be banning, including glyphosate. The report mentioned that glyphosate is still used in Europe but that atrazine is banned there and could be on Kennedy’s targeted list. May 20: The Wall Street Journal reported that Bayer was considering placing its Monsanto division into bankruptcy as a means of resolving lawsuits against Roundup. continued on page 16 In addition to the U.S.-based legal challenges, a class action lawsuit was certified against Bayer in Canada in April 2025. The lawsuit seeks financial compensation for individuals who developed NHL following significant exposure to the herbicide. The merits of the case are yet to be proven in court, with Bayer denying the claim. While this lawsuit adds to Bayer’s legal challenges, it is important to note that there is currently no regulatory or political activity that would impact Canadian farmers’ access to glyphosate at this time. A POSITIVE TAKE Two papers from the U.S. National Corn Growers Association (NCGA), posted May 21 and 28, refuted the MAHA Report claims, detailing what growers and society in general stand to lose if glyphosate is banned. Yields could drop up to 70 per cent alongside increases in soil erosion, greater water use for irrigation, and the additional release of carbon from the four to five tillage passes per acre needed to manage weeds. For Dale Cowan, it’s a combination of glyphosate’s long-term simplicity and its environmental benefits that are under threat with any proposed ban. It’s one of the few chemistries that worked no matter the weather, and to a large degree, it’s been the most influential practice in the development of a no-till environment. “It certainly cleaned up a lot of perennial weed problems,” says Cowan, senior agronomist with Agris Co-op. He recalls the days when milkweed was an issue in fields. “We got rid of all those, and it’s changed farming completely, driving out a lot of tillage cost and a lot of fuel cost.” He acknowledges the decline in the trust of science, noting that “lab coats and lawyers” dealings seldom work in favour of those wearing lab coats, but that the nature of science is one of discovery and understanding the natural world. It’s possible that in the development of a product, not every facet is explored or tested, because it may not have been the scope of the project. “It’s a little disappointing for me that science is under attack,” adds Cowan. “It just seems that anyone with an opinion can air it, and then opinions get interpreted as facts. Then people gather to a point of view, and you can have two sides to every issue, but then we stop talking, and I don’t know where we win on that one.” HOW TO DEFINE ‘BETTER’ The clarity on “winning” is lost on a lot of industry partners, especially when considering the metrics involved in defining the win. Dr. François Tardif believes, as Cowan does, that it is one thing to ban glyphosate and default to alternative measures; however, without understanding the science of weed management, it’s shortsighted to promote any of those alternatives. The farming community understands, or at least is aware of, the benefits to farmers, including weed management, increased yields, and the simplicity of one or two applications of a herbicide. Yet the average consumer only sees the advantages to the farmer, not the societal benefits that result. A BRIEF MOMENT IN TIME The history of action against Bayer is short, compared to the years of usage that glyphosate has had. But it is the ferocity of opposition to something that has been so heavily relied upon, and has had societal benefits, that can be so shocking. According to a June 6, 2025, update from the U.S. Lawsuit Information Center, a website dedicated to linking complainants with legal representatives, Bayer faced 100,000 legal challenges, most of them from those suffering from non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL).
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