Ag News from China and Germany

China Businessman Sentenced Three Years for Stealing Seed Trade Secrets

A businessman from China will serve three years in prison after being caught rummaging through Iowa cornfields to learn trade secrets from U.S. seed corn companies. The Des Moines Register reports the man known as Robert Mo was taking seed from the Midwest and shipping it to China. He was found by DuPont Pioneer security guards in 2011 digging in a corn field where test plots of new seed corn varieties were growing. He was arrested in 2013, but five other coworkers fled the U.S. before they could be arrested. Prosecutors say he traveled the Midwest working for Kings Nower Seed, a subsidiary of a technology conglomerate in China, to take corn seed and ship it to China so scientists could attempt to reproduce its genetic traits. He pled guilty in January and was sentenced to three years in prison this week.

Government, States in Germany, Agree to All or Nothing GMO Ban

A draft law reportedly agreed to by all German ministers would make the decision of whether to ban the cultivation of genetically engineered crops a joint decision by Germany's federal and state governments in the future. In March of last year, the European Union cleared the way for approval of new GMO crops but gave individual countries the right to ban GMO crops even after they have been approved. Pro Farmer’s First Thing Today reports that in September of 2015, Germany told the EU it would not permit the cultivation of GMO crops. However, there has been disagreement whether the ban should be undertaken by federal or state authorities. Government sources say the draft law will now be discussed with the states and industry associations before it is likely to go to the Cabinet of Germany, the chief executive body of Germany, next month.

Source:  NAFB News