Seeds & Agrichemicals — Latest Stories

USDA Report Highlights Harms of Seed Consolidation and Restrictive IP

A USDA report reveals that a handful of monopolies control most the patents on top U.S. commodity crops, inhibiting critical seed research, diversification, and competition.

Report: Big Ag Soil Carbon Programs Entrench Corporate Power And Delay Real Climate Action

A new report by the Open Markets Institute and Friends of the Earth argues that corporate-led soil carbon offset programs risk increasing greenhouse gas emissions while entrenching agribusiness market power.

Policy, Seeds & AgrichemicalsClaire KellowayMarch 9, 2023Carbon Markets, cargill, Bayer, climate change

FTC Says Pesticide Companies Paid to Block Cheaper Competitors, Raising Prices

The FTC alleges that Syngenta and Corteva maintained pesticide monopolies by paying distributors not to carry generic products. Pesticide firms aren’t the only businesses using pay-to-block schemes.

Private Carbon Payment Programs Funnel Farm Data to Big Ag

As Big Ag gets into the business of buying and selling carbon credits, they also get access to lots of farm-level data.

Seeds & Agrichemicals, PolicyClaire KellowaySeptember 30, 2021data, Carbon Markets, cargill, Bayer, Corteva

Farmers Sue Big Ag for Allegedly Sidelining E-Commerce Startups

A new antitrust suit against seed makers and sellers sheds light on how Big Ag controls the crop input market to preference their products.

Big Ag Eyes Cut of Farmers’ Profits in New Pricing Program

Agribusiness wants to dramatically change the way farmers value and pay for a bag of corn seed, to get a second bite at producer profits. Bayer, the world’s leading seed manufacturer, has been piloting an “outcome-based” pricing program that adjusts the cost of its seeds or agrichemicals based on how well its products perform. Farmers and antitrust scholars worry that goliaths such as Bayer will use this data-driven pricing program to further squeeze farmers and to lock more growers into the behemoths’ product bundles and digital agriculture platforms.

Seeds & AgrichemicalsClaire KellowayMarch 12, 2020Bayer, monsanto, seeds, Tying, GMO, Seeds & Agrichemicals, Big Data

Canadian Antitrust Enforcers Investigating Big Ag for Stifling Startup

Canada’s Competition Bureau is looking into an allegation that agribusiness giants Bayer, Corteva, BASF, Cargill, and others tried to crush an online ag retailing startup, the California-based Farmers Business Network (FBN), according to court filings reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

Seeds & AgrichemicalsClaire KellowayFebruary 25, 2020Antitrust, Bayer, monsanto, seeds, Seeds & Agrichemicals, GMO, Big Data

Data Consolidation Threatens Sustainable Agriculture Says International Panel

If you care about reducing pesticide use, promoting agricultural biodiversity, and supporting small farmers, then you should also care about who’s amassing agricultural data. That’s the message of a new report from a group of sustainable food policy experts, out last week.

Seeds & AgrichemicalsClaire KellowayFebruary 15, 2019Bayer, consolidation, Dow, DuPont, monsanto, resiliency, GMO, commodity, Big Data

Mexico’s Native Corn Varieties Threatened by New NAFTA

Last week, after the Trump administration struck a deal with Canada and Mexico to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, the White House declared victory for US farmers, who gained greater access to Canadian dairy, egg, poultry, and wheat markets. Unfortunately, the new deal called the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, also includes lesser-known provisions that could allow agribusiness corporations to patent Mexico’s native corn varieties and challenge the country’s ban on genetically modified (GM) corn cultivation.

Seeds & AgrichemicalsClaire KellowayOctober 10, 2018commodity, GMO, grains, Trade

Bayer-Monsanto Deal Closes as Farmers Warn of Higher Prices and Less Resiliency

On Thursday, Bayer closed its $62.5 billion purchase of Monsanto. This comes roughly a week after the Department of Justice (DOJ) approved the merger, on the condition that the corporations sell off $9 billion worth of assets, including seed divisions, intellectual property, research projects, and more. Yet even after these divestitures, the combined entity will be the largest global seed and agrochemical corporation, and U.S. based field crop growers fear the power of the new combine.

Seeds & AgrichemicalsClaire KellowayJune 7, 2018Bayer, Chemicals, commodity, merger, monsanto, seeds, GMO, grains, Big Data

Bayer Plans Sell-Off that would Worsen Competition in Seeds, Chemicals

In the fall of 2016, the German drug, seed, and crop chemicals conglomerate Bayer announced plans to merge with the U.S. chemical and bio-tech seed giant Monsanto. Hoping to overcome objections from European anti-trust regulators, Bayer is promising to sell off its vegetable seed business to BASF, a German corporation that is currently the largest chemical maker in the world.

Farmers Ramp Up Campaign Against Bayer Takeover of Monsanto

The National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) last week said it plans to bring an injunction against Bayer to stop the German corporation’s $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto. The announcement comes as farmers and antitrust advocates across the country organize against the looming merger of the two agrochemical giants, which they say would have dire consequences for both conventional and organic farmers.