Monsanto reaches agreement with U.S. Government to resolve Hawaii matters

St. Louis, December 9, 2021 – Today, Monsanto said it has reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to fully resolve two separate pesticide-related matters at its farms in Hawaii. The plea agreement resolves two previously announced Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) violations that were part of the company’s 2019 deferred prosecution agreement and date back to 2014.

It also resolves a number of Federal Insecticide Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) violations in 2020 associated with the use of a glufosinate-based herbicide, which the company disclosed to the government. Under the agreement, the company will pay a total of approximately $12 million to resolve the FIFRA matters. Of that payment, half will go towards community service payments in Hawaii. The company will be subject to a three-year probationary period with auditing and reporting requirements. The agreement is subject to court approval.

“The conduct at issue in the agreement is unacceptable and contrary to the values and policies of the company, and we sincerely regret it,” said Darren Wallis, Vice President of Communications, North America Crop Science. “To ensure proper compliance, the company is taking significant remedial actions to enhance its controls, including strengthening its policies and procedures that now require a robust and multi-step approval process to authorize the use of pesticides on fields in Hawaii, and enhancing its training. Taken together, we are confident these measures will ensure legal compliance and will maintain our high safety standards.”

No adverse health effects associated with the Hawaii matters have been reported to the company.

The company provided additional details on the remedial actions it is taking to further enhance its comprehensive compliance controls. These include:   

• Strengthening companywide pesticide use procedures, including procedures to ensure that all U.S. sites compare the labels of the products in their inventory with the U.S. EPA’s Pesticide Product Label System, conduct additional in-season pre-use label comparisons, and require site-lead review and approval of pesticide use plans.
• Implementing a new multi-level approval process in Hawaii to ensure compliance with labels for every pesticide. Monsanto has always required applicators to read and comply with these labels, but the new process adds several additional approvals, including by:
  • A second pesticide applicator
  • The Integrated Pesticide Management (IPM) Manager
  • Agronomy Lead
  • Site Management
• Enhancing training for all Hawaii employees to ensure compliance with applicable laws, including FIFRA and RCRA, and company policies.
• Expanding Standard Operating Procedures in Hawaii by adopting a new procedure for Entry / Exit of Controlled Areas to address situations where one product may have multiple restricted entry intervals (REIs) depending on the activity and to clarify that the longer duration REI will govern all covered activity.
• Creating new IPM roles in Hawaii explicitly focused on overseeing and ensuring compliance, record keeping, equipment operations and uniformity across sites. This includes increasing the experience and skill requirements for IPM teams whose members also must be certified by the state of Hawaii.
• Creating a new internal group of experts in Hawaii sites to work collaboratively to develop best practices.

Monsanto’s roots in Hawaii agriculture go back to the 1960s, supporting a strong, healthy, and sustainable agricultural industry across the islands. In 2017, the company designated over 1,500 acres of farmland on Oahu as Important Agricultural Lands, ensuring the lands are preserved for active agricultural production in perpetuity. The company also worked collaboratively to help establish the 220-acre Ag Park at Kunia, where local farmers are currently raising a variety of fruits and vegetables, and has donated more than $2 million to community organizations over the past 10 years. The company continues to place the highest priority on the safety and wellbeing of its more than 600 employees and supporting local communities. 

###

About Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to help people and planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to drive sustainable development and generate a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2020, the Group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 41.4 billion euros. R&D expenses before special items amounted to 4.9 billion euros. For more information, go to www.bayer.com.

Contact:
Name: Nicole Hayes  
Bayer U.S. 
Email: nicole.hayes@bayer.com 
Mobile: (201) 421-5268

Name: Susan Luke  
Bayer Crop Science – U.S. 
Email: susan.luke@bayer.com 
Mobile: (314) 412-5406

Name: Monica Ivey 
Bayer Crop Science – Hawaii 
Email: monica.ivey@bayer.com 
Mobile: (808) 221-1166

Bayer® and the Bayer Cross® are registered trademarks of Bayer.

Forward-Looking Statements
This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer Group or subgroup management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.