In a quiet but seismic signal to the global agri-food industry, Bayer is warning it may halt the production of glyphosate — the world’s most widely used herbicide — amid mounting legal pressure and ballooning compensation payouts.

The German agrochemical giant has already earmarked US$16 billion to settle tens of thousands of lawsuits in the United States, while never admitting liability and standing firm on the assertion that glyphosate does not cause cancer. In Canada, similar class-action suits are now beginning to surface.

For Bayer, the issue is not science — it’s economics.

The financial and reputational burden of defending glyphosate is beginning to outweigh its commercial value. With each new lawsuit, the cost of maintaining the herbicide’s market presence rises. Whether glyphosate remains legally defensible is one question — whether it is worth defending, commercially, is another. At some point, something has to give — and it may simply be cheaper to pull the plug, develop a next-generation alternative, and rebrand.

Much of this trouble can be traced back to 2018, when Bayer acquired Monsanto for $63 billion. The merger was........

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