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Farm groups weigh in on mergers at hearing

Farm groups have testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about the proposed ag company mergers at a hearing on consolidation and competition. American Farm Bureau’s Bob Young says there is a silver lining if the Dow/DuPont merger goes through as well as the Bayer/Monsanto merger, “We are probably better served as an industry with at least two of these chemical genetic firms rather than would be the case if we only had one.”

Chris Novak, CEO of the National Corn Growers Association, presented findings from a third party analysis done for NCGA and the American Soybean Association in the case of Dow and DuPont merging, “Our analysis showed competition is unlikely to be harmed for domestic corn and soybean herbicides, insecticides or soybean seed. It did, however, point to increasing concentration in the domestic corn seed market.” Novak said the Justice Department, however, must maintain open and competitive marketing that has allowed companies like Becks to thrive.

National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson is not convinced that there won’t be competition issues, “In the past few decades, federal enforcement actions pertaining to anti-trust have waned especially where companies argue that larger combined businesses can offer lower prices. But, when competition is limited there are no long-term safeguards against future price hikes.”

NCGA’s Novak said true competition is not based solely on the number of players in a given market.