Dicamba (XtendiMax)

Dicamba is a herbicide paired with genetically engineered dicamba-resistant soybean and cotton seed, but its tendency to volatilize and drift off-target has damaged millions of acres of neighboring non-resistant crops, orchards, and gardens since the resistant-seed system launched. In a bellwether case, a federal jury in the Eastern District of Missouri awarded peach farmer Bill Bader $265 million (later reduced) after finding Bayer (Monsanto) and BASF acted in a conspiracy to promote the dicamba herbicide system knowing it would cause widespread drift damage. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld liability in 2023 but vacated the joint punitive-damages award, ordering a new trial to apportion damages separately between the two companies — a case widely seen as a bellwether for numerous other pending dicamba-drift lawsuits nationwide.