Iowa’s Attorney General has forced a seed dealer to extend an important deadline for farmers who raised a now-controversial variety of corn. Aventis sold “StarLink” corn seed to farmers, and is now offering to buy it back, pay shipping costs, and give farmers a bonus. The reason: “StarLink” is not approved for human consumption and was recently found in some grocery store taco shells. Steve Moline of the Iowa Department of Justice says the company hadn’t given farmers much time to review their options.Farmers began receiving the offers in the mail last Friday, October 13th, and were given ’til today to make up their minds.Moline says the company is removing the “StarLink” genetically modified corn from the market for good.Under its buy-back program, Aventis is offering farmers a 25-cent-per-bushel premium for its corn, and promising to pay storage costs and any transportation costs to the 51 sites in Iowa where the corn will be stored. Iowa’s Attorney General has gotten the company to write its buy-back contracts in such a way as to give farmers the option of suing Aventis for additional damages.
