In the past two years alone, three major corporate mergers have begun to reshape what was an already concentrated international market for agricultural chemicals, seeds, and fertilizers. If the mergers gain approval from their relevant regulatory agencies, these six multinational corporations would fold into three (Dow-DuPont, Bayer-Monsanto, and ChemChina-Syngenta), and have a profound impact on the future of global agriculture.
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Altogether, the combined assets across the three new companies would amount to $352.14 billion and their combined total revenue would be $189.76 billion. These deals alone will place as much as 70 percent of the agrochemical industry and over 60 percent of commercial seeds in the hands of only three companies.
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If greenlighted by government bodies in the US and abroad, the mergers and acquisitions of large multinational agribusiness industries—such as the merging of Bayer and Monsanto, Dow and DuPont, and ChemChina and Syngenta—will have global ramifications. Such corporate mergers would further undermine food security and poverty reduction plans; disrupt trade flows; and accelerate corporate control, consolidation, and monopolization of global, regional, and local food systems by a few agribusiness corporations. Ultimately, these mergers would come to the detriment of small and mid-size farmers, rural communities, consumers, and societies at large.
Read full, original article: Corporate Consolidation (Research Brief)
