Off-patent chemistry: Financially strapped American farmers switching to generic crop chemicals

U.S. farmers struggling with slumping incomes and depressed grain prices have been switching to cheaper generic pesticides and fungicides as they plan for spring planting next year, which market analysts said could hit the bottom lines of agrichemical companies like Bayer.

Signs of these financial impacts are already emerging. Bayer (BAYGn.DE) shares fell sharply to a 20-year low on [April 22, 2025], after the chemical company warned that weak global agricultural markets and a slumping U.S. farm economy are likely to pressure profits further.

If there is a generic option to brand-name herbicides, and the seeds that a farmer purchases can tolerate it, then it can makes sense to go with a less expensive product, said Mac Marshall, founder of agriculture advising firm Balcony View Consulting.

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More than two dozen active ingredient patents have expired in the past five years – spurring a boom in off-patent use, which now accounts for about 80% of the agrichemical market share, [according to Rabobank agricultural analysts Owen Wagner and Sam Taylor].

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