German conglomerate Bayer...said...has agreed to a $750 million settlement with U.S. rice farmers who had sued the company after an experimental strain of Bayer's genetically modified rice contaminated their crops. The announcement settles lawsuits that were filed, beginning in 2006, against the Bayer CropScience unit of Bayer by about 11,000 farmers in five U.S. states. The lawsuits were filed following the discovery of strains of genetically altered rice in U.S. supplies that was alleged to have contaminated more than 30 percent of U.S. rice lands...Following the announcement, countries such as Russia, Mexico, Japan and the European Union banned U.S.-origin rice or forced rice imports from the U.S. to go through tight sanctioning processes, leading to a fall in prices and causing losses to rice farmers and exporters in the U.S. The 11,000 farmers...will split the $750 million settlement.