Attorneys representing Kinze Mfg. filed motions asking a federal judge to stop Deere & Co. from trying to access a variety of internal documents about the company, reports The Des Moines Register.

Deere served Kinze a subpoena in October seeking the documents as part of the antitrust lawsuit Deere faces in its pursuit to purchase Precision Planting from Monsanto Co., the newspaper reported.

Kinze isn’t involved in the lawsuit but has its own series of high-speed precision planters. The Des Moines Register says Kinze’s attorneys argue that turning over the documents requested — including marketing strategies, sales data and research and development plans — would irreparably affect its ability to compete in the future with Deere.

Kinze has already turned over more than 18,000 pages of less-sensitive documents to the antitrust division and Deere as part of an investigation before the lawsuit was filed, the paper says.

IN OTHER NO-TILL NEWS…

• BASF and FMC Corp. have entered an agreement to bring novel in-furrow crop protection products to the U.S. corn market. The companies will integrate their insect and disease protection technologies into new products formulated with FMC’s LFR technology.
• EPA approved Monsanto Co.’s XtendiMax with VaporGrip Technology. The low-volatility dicamba herbicide will be available for in-crop use with Roundup Ready 2 Xtend soybeans and Bollgard II XtendFlex cotton, pending state approvals.
• Bayer plans to sell some of its cotton and canola seed businesses to lessen antitrust regulator’s concerns regarding its takeover of Monsanto Co. Antitrust experts have said regulators will…