The co-founder of the Farmers Business Network says there is concern how the recent flurry of ag mergers will impact farmers.
Charles Baron says in the current ag economy farmers are worried what these mergers will mean for inputs – specifically seed and chemical prices.
He says farmers don’t benefit from a lack of competition in the marketplace.
“If we had seen the history of consolidation leading to lower prices for growers – I think people might be a little less concerned,” he says. “But what’s happened in the last 10 years – the relative share that seed costs, for example, are eating up of farmers’ income has continued to increase.”
He tells Brownfield farmers are getting creative when it comes to maximizing their return on investment.
“They’re looking at additional markets,” he says. “We have growers marketing non-GMO corn and looking for premiums on that. I think these tough markets mean you’ve got to change the way you’re doing things and technology alone may not solve that problem.”
The agriculture industry has seen several mergers in the last 12 months – deals between Syngenta/ChemChina and Dow/DuPont were announced earlier this year and just this week Canadian nutrient companies Agrium and Potash announced they would merge and after months of negotiations seed and agrochemical giants Bayer and Monsanto announced their merger.
Source: brownfieldagnews.com