Johnson told the jury the company followed the United States Department of Agriculture guidelines during its testing phase. According to Johnson, there were field trials in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Puerto Rico.

Riceland's attorneys produced exhibits showing the company possibly considered doing the field trials "in house," which could have been more regulated, but also more expensive.

"It happened, but we don't know how," Johnson said about the genetically-modified rice contaminating the U.S. rice supply.

On Aug. 18, 2006, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that genetically-modified (GM) rice was found in the U.S. long grain rice supply. It was Bayer's Liberty Link rice, which consists of several varieties, that was found.