Written by Paul Carr – Regional Extension Educator
September 16, 2003
Non-StarLink Claim Checks Should be Distributed to Farmers by End Of 2003
This past spring many farmers who harvested corn from 1998 – 2002 submitted a claim for the non-starlink farmers settlement. The deadline for submission of all claims was July 31, 2003. The claims pertain to the settlement of a class action lawsuit against StarLink’s owner on behalf of farmers.
Paul Carr, Regional Extension Educator with the University of MN Extension Service says, "Since the deadline, the claims administrator (The Garden City Group, Inc.), has been processing the submitted claims. The claims administrator has sent letters out to individuals who filed claims with incomplete information. These individuals have an opportunity to correct their information and send it back into the claims administrator. Other letters have been sent out to individuals who filed a claim, but were not qualified to participate in the settlement. No letters have been sent to people who were qualified and filled out the claims completely."
Carr cites a conversation with a representative of The Garden City Group where it was estimated that payments for the non-starlink farmers settlement will be made to those eligible by Dec 31, 2003. An estimate of not less than $1.50 per acre of corn harvested during the year 2000 will be paid to claimants that qualify and submitted claims by the deadline. Actual dollars paid per acre will be determined when all claims have been processed.
StarLink was a corn that contained a protein to protect the plant against insects. The corn, with this protein, was sold in the U.S. from 1998-2000 and was approved for feed use, but not for human consumption or for export. While much of the StarLink corn was channeled for feed use, some still contaminated corn used for other purposes. This contamination lead to fears among other nations over the safety of U.S. corn, since it was not approved for export, resulting in lower exports for U.S. corn and thus, lower prices for U.S. corn.