The Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general announced a September 28 proposed settlement with Corteva over pesticide-distributor loyalty terms. The FTC says the program deterred distributors from carrying generic competitors after pesticide patents expired. The agreement would restrict those practices for 10 years, potentially making lower-priced products easier for farmers to buy. That is a competition remedy, not a price guarantee at the next farm-supply purchase.
The FTC's 2022 lawsuit alleges that distributors received end-of-year incentives for buying nearly all of certain pesticide ingredients from Corteva, excluding lower-priced competitors. Under the proposed order, Corteva could not condition distributor benefits on buying more than 50% of a given active ingredient from it or restrict generic purchases to under 50%. The order would extend across Corteva's post-patent active ingredients, not only the examples in the lawsuit.
The commission said the Corteva agreement resolves only its claims against that company; litigation against Syngenta continues. The proposed order was filed in federal court and would become enforceable upon court approval. The release mentions money to state plaintiffs, but does not announce an individual farmer-refund or claim process. Farmers comparing pesticide offers should ask distributors for equivalent active ingredients, product labels and current prices rather than assuming the lawsuit has already lowered every price.