Mergers Stir Up Concern On Capitol Hill

I'm Susan Allen. The big news that is going to affect agriculture in Washington DC didn't happen in DC but in the offices of a certain company that operates in Germany, St. Louis, by now you've heard of them. Bayer and Monsanto announced a merger last week, and that got things stirred up this week on Capitol Hill.

Agri-Pulse's Phil Brasher shared his perspective that mergers are really nothing new but with this one, something has changed, hasn't it?

Brasher: What's changed is you have one more. You have a whole series of fertilizer and the entire chemical seed sector consolidating; that's what's really big and that's what really drawing the attention of the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Charles Grassley of Iowa (has a little interest in agriculture himself). He is going to be bringing in this week the top executives from some of the chemical seed companies. None of the mergers is bigger and have a more public interest obviously than the deal between Bayer and Monsanto.

There will be a hearing today regarding the consolidation of the seed and chemical industries in the Senate Judiciary Committee. I am sure the Justice Department will be playing close attention to the testimony from DuPont, Dow, Syngenta, Bayer and Monsanto as Senators will be grilling their top executives about the impact of a series of planned mergers on our farm economy, Also the total effect on the US seed and chemical business.