The U.S. Justice Department gave its blessing to the merger of German chemical company Bayer AG and the U.S. agribusiness giant Monsanto this week. The deal, worth almost $63 billion dollars, would mark the third combination of agricultural and chemical companies in recent years. Once the takeover is final, the two companies will share one quarter of the world’s seed and pesticide market.

In 2017, Dow Chemical officially took over DuPont and ChemChina acquired Swiss-based Syngenta. DuPont Pioneer provides financial support for the production of Market to Market.

The U.S. Justice Department had reservations about Bayer’s takeover of Monsanto until the German pharmaceutical company sold off holdings that caused anti-trust concerns.

The National Farmers Union, one of the largest farmer advocacy groups in the U.S., is strongly opposed to the merger.

Andrew Jerome, National Farmers Union: “This approval couldn’t come at a worse time for family farmers, as they’ve watched prices and profitability be cut in half over the past five years. The tide of agricultural consolidation must be stopped immediately in order for farmers to enjoy any semblance of fair and competitive markets.”

For Market to Market, I'm John Torpy

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