The National Farmers Union Chair of Seed and Trade Committee isn't pleased with the recent trend of agribusiness mergers.
Following last week's purchase of Monsanto by Bayer for 66 billion dollars, Terry Boehm says it and other transactions are just ways for big corporations to restructure existing assets, leading to higher profits and better control of the market by eliminating competition.
He feels mergers and aquisitions do not help with production.
The NFU notes traditional economic thinking assumes market competition pushes businesses to constantly improve product and price in order to remain competitive.
The union feels consolidation will lead to an ag sector dominated by just a few companies which won't concern themselves with service, quality or price.
Boehm adds the seed companies are taking control of agricultural production, which controls the food system and leads to tremendous power.
Earlier this month PotashCorp and Agrium merged for 30 billion dollars.
The NFU also points out ChemChina is in the process of buying Syngenta for 43 billion dollars while Dupont and Dow are working on a deal for 68 billion.
