LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- Corteva, Inc. will dismantle its crop loyalty program and pay $35 million to 12 plaintiff states in a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and those states announced on Monday, as part of an ongoing lawsuit alleging the company paid distributors to block competitors from selling less expensive generic pesticide products to farmers.

The settlement filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina prohibits Corteva from requiring customers to buy more than 50% of certain pesticide needs from the company to qualify for benefits.

Corteva is barred from retaliating against customers who buy competing products, under the terms of the agreement. The settlement bars arrangements that require customers to meet purchasing targets across multiple active ingredients to qualify for benefits.

In a news release on Monday the FTC touted the settlement as a tool to "lower pesticide prices for American farmers."

Multi-year conditions that tie benefits earned in one year to continued purchases in subsequent years will be banned under the agreement.

The $35 million Corteva payout to the 12 states may be used for "distribution to farmers as deemed appropriate by any state's attorney general, including for a restitutionary purpose," the settlement said.

However, the agreement does not necessarily guarantee payments to farmers.

The consent order will stay in effect for 10 years and requires compliance reporting to the FTC and the states, and it mandates Corteva personnel to have antitrust training.

As for the continued case against Syngenta, the settlement said oral arguments were held on July 30, 2026, as the court considers a Syngenta motion for summary judgment.

Corteva is required in the settlement to cooperate with the FTC and the states in the ongoing lawsuit.

The decree filed this week requires Corteva to make up to three witnesses available for trial testimony, help the plaintiffs obtain testimony from former employees and assist the plaintiffs in authenticating documents and other data for use in court.

DTN reached out to Corteva and Syngenta for comment.

Corteva provided the following statement in response to DTN's request for comment: "We're pleased to reach a resolution in the FTC matter and continue to focus on our business, our customers and our work: delivering groundbreaking innovation and agronomic support to retailers and farmers around the world."

Attorneys general in California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin joined the FTC class-action lawsuit filed on Sept. 29, 2022, also leveling the allegations at Syngenta Crop Protection.

The lawsuit alleges crop loyalty programs helped the companies maintain monopoly power by limiting generic pesticide manufacturers from competing with them.

In June 2026, Corteva also settled a similar lawsuit filed by a group of farmers in the same court.

The ongoing lawsuit alleges that crop inputs distributors only get paid if they limit business with competing manufacturers. Such arrangements, the lawsuit said, are "cutting off" competition and allowing the companies to "inflate their prices and force American farmers to spend millions of dollars more for their products."

Syngenta and Corteva are two of the largest pesticide manufacturers operating in the United States. Syngenta, based in Switzerland, is a subsidiary of a Chinese state-owned company. Corteva, headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the company formed as part of a merger between DuPont and Dow Chemical Co.

The complaint alleges Syngenta and Corteva take "illegal" steps to stop generic pesticides from eating into their profits. The loyalty programs include making payments to distributors if the distributors keep their purchases of competing generic pesticides beneath a certain threshold.

When a company creates a new pesticide, the FTC said, it can patent the invention and prevent others from selling the pesticide for 20 years.

"Ordinarily, when the patent expires, generic versions of the product enter the market to compete with the original brand-name version," the FTC said in its original complaint.

"The arrival of generics pushes prices down. Instead of one company wielding a monopoly over a new product, many manufacturers can compete for farmers' business."

The complaint targets six crop-protection active ingredients.

It claims that Syngenta has monopoly and market power in the United States with respect to azoxystrobin, a fungicide; and mesotrione and metolachlor, both herbicides.

In addition, the complaint alleges Corteva has monopoly and market power in the United States on the herbicide rimsulfuron and the insecticide and nematicide oxamyl. Corteva also has market power with respect to the herbicide acetochlor.

The complaint also alleges the companies violated state-competition and consumer protection laws in California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas and Wisconsin.

"Corteva Settles FTC Crop Loyalty Case," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

"FTC Pursues Trial on Crop Loyalty Case," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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