Monsanto and Bayer: Why Food and Agriculture Just Took a Turn For The Worse

[Judi Lynn]

Monsanto and Bayer: Why Food and Agriculture Just Took a Turn For The Worse
September 16, 2016
by Colin Todhunter

News broke this week that Monsanto accepted a $66 billion takeover bid from Bayer. The new company would control more than 25 per cent of the global supply of commercial seeds and pesticides. Bayer’s crop chemicals business is the world’s second largest after Syngenta, and Monsanto is the leading commercial seeds business.

Monsanto held a 26 per cent market share of all seeds sold in 2011. Bayer (mainly a pharmaceuticals company) sells 17 per cent of the world’s total agrochemicals and also has a comparatively small seeds sector. If competition authorities pass the deal, the combined company would be the globe’s largest seller of both seeds and agrochemicals.

The deal marks a trend towards consolidation in the industry with Dow and DuPont having agreed to merge and Swiss seed/pesticide giant Syngenta merging with ChemChina, a Chinese government concern.

The mergers would mean that three companies would dominate the commercial agricultural seeds and chemicals sector, down from six – Syngenta, Bayer, BASF, Dow, Monsanto and DuPont. Prior to the mergers, these six firms controlled 60 per cent of commercial seed and more than 75 per cent of agrochemical markets.

More:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/16/monsanto-and-bayer-why-food-and-agriculture-just-took-a-turn-for-the-worse/

[immoderate]

1. Where is the Monsanto cheering section to rejoice over this?

--imm

[Archae]

2. Think it just MIGHT be a "big fucking deal" moment?

[Todays_Illusion]

3. These companies all benefitted greatly from U.S. government funded research and development.

These companies had unlimited access to our regulatory agencies and were in addition to being allowed patents on products produced by U.S. taxpayer funded research, received billions more in tax credits and tax grants.

Now all of this is being handed over to foreign companies.

Who is asking, are they to continue to receive the same tax funded support from U. S. taxpayer, the same access to our legislators and regulators, will they be allowed to continue to provide campaign money for elected officials.

Everyone is so quiet about it. Everyone being the MSM.