Bayer to Compensate Swiss Winegrowers
Bayer may have to pay as much as 90 million Swiss francs to compensate winegrowers whose crops treated with its Moon Privilege fungicide suffered damage. The German agrochemical and pharmaceutical giant said it would offer compensation to the Swiss growers without accepting blame. While Bayer said there was “no clear proof,” around 900 Swiss growers have claimed that Moon Privilege was responsible for the poor yields. The affected plants are said to have deformed leaves and dried, shriveled grapes.
According to the Swiss Winegrowers’ Federation, problems related to the fungicide led to a 5% decline in the country’s 2015 grape harvest. A documentary aired in September by Swiss public television station RTS claimed that around 2,000 hectares of the overall 15,000 crops had been affected negatively by Moon Privilege.
Without disclosing the total sum, Bayer said individual offers of compensation would be made to winegrowers beginning in early 2016. The expected payout total was calculated by Winegrowers Federation based on the number of complaints.
The German group said in a statement that while its investigations into the possible cause of the damage were continuing, it believed a combination of factors was in play during the 2014 season, in particular that the growth anomalies mostly arose when Moon Privilege was applied in the final growth phases of the vines and in extremely wet weather.
In September, Bayer advised wine grape growers not to use the fungicide until it had properly investigated the problem. The Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture suspended authorization for Moon Privilege as early as July as a precautionary measure and to avoid further damage in 2016.
