KANSAS CITY –– Monsanto and BASF Corporation face a new lawsuit over use of their herbicides Xtendimax and Engenia.

The plaintiff, 4-R Farms, which operates farms in Nemaha and Pottawatomie County, Kan., filed the complaint on July 12 in Kansas federal court. The farm operator, which grows soybean, alfalfa and corn, claims the companies promoted their products to be safe from harming other crops, but knew they would cause severe and widespread damage.

"As a result of Defendants’ greed, recklessness, and callous disregard for the rights of American farmers, thousands of farmers’ livelihoods have been jeopardized, and millions of acres of crops have been destroyed," the complaint states.



4-R Farms grows soybeans and corn.

"To retain its stranglehold on the seed and herbicide markets despite the decreasing efficacy of Roundup, and the impending loss of its patent protection for Roundup Ready seeds," the complaint states. "Monsanto created new strains of soybean and cotton that were resistant to dicamba—an older, more toxic, and more uncontrollable herbicide. Monsanto branded these dicamba resistant crops as Xtend varieties."

The plaintiff seeks class action status.

The claims are similar to another class action that several farmers filed at federal court in St. Louis on July 18, alleging the companies set in motion a chain of events that destroyed crops planted from Monsanto-brand cotton and soybean seeds in four counties.

Gerald Cross of Cross Law Firm in Overland Park, Kansas, represents 4-R Farms.