Monsanto agrees to settlement for almost $2.4 million

The firm will pay nearly $2.4 million to settle a lawsuit with wheat farmers.

The U.S. wheat farmers filed the suit when a genetically modified strain of wheat was discovered in an Oregon field in 2013. Genetically engineered wheat hasn't been approved for farming in the U.S., and regulators hadn't approved the Oregon strain.

Monsanto said that it has settled the case to avoid "an extended legal battle," The Associated Press reports. The settlement will give $2.1 million to farmers in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho who sold soft white wheat between May 30 and Nov. 30, 2013. Monsanto will also pay $250,000 to several wheat growers' associations.

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