Supporters and opponents of several proposed mergers among agricultural seed and chemical companies made their case to lawmakers in Washington Tuesday.
Executives from Dow, DuPont, Monsanto, Bayer and Syngenta argue the proposed new combinations are necessary to continue the research that leads to innovation. But Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union, says the new pairings, including a Chinese state-owned company buying Syngenta, could have the opposite effect.
"Dow, DuPont, Bayer-Monsanto and Chem-China/Syngenta would have more than 80 percent market share of the US corn seeds and 70 percent of global pesticide market," Johnson says. "These mergers would result in fewer choices for farmers, higher prices and likely less innovation."
The Senate hearings create a public record of the proposals. But the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission will decide how, or whether, the deals go through.
