Farmers in the United States have descended on Washington DC to protest the ongoing series of mergers amongst the world’s giant agribusinesses, which they see as a potential threat to their livelihood.

On Monday, members of the National Farmers Union (the US’s second largest farm union) will meet with members of Congress and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to express fears that further consolidation in the agriculture industry will result in higher input prices, reduced choice, and will further weaken the position of farmers in the supply chain at a time when they are already suffering as a result of low returns. The National Farmers Union represents mostly smaller, family farmers and is strongest in the Great Plains states.

Following Swiss chemical company Syngenta’s acquisition by ChemChina, and a planned merger between Dow and DuPont, others in the agchem sector have embarked on multiple merger talks. Monsanto has been linked with both BASF and Bayer since its failed bid to acquire Syngenta, and in North America, Canada’s two largest fertiliser companies have entered merger talks.

In response to the spate of planned mergers, the US Senate’s Judiciary Committee has announced plans to investigate the potential effects on competition of further consolidation in an industry which is already infamous for the power wielded by a few major players. However, farm leaders have suggested that many farming groups have been reluctant to criticise the dealings of agribusinesses, for fear of ‘biting the hand that feeds’.  

Even so, speaking last week when bayer upped its bid for competitor Monsanto, Roger Johnson a former North Dakota agriculture commissioner and president of the National Farmers Union said, “NFU will continue to express concern that these industry megadeals are being made to benefit the corporate boardroom at the expense of family farmers, ranchers, rural communities and consumers. Aggressive consolidation is changing the landscape for agriculture and rural communities.

“Specifically, the onslaught of consolidation in agricultural inputs can impair research and development efforts and create barriers for independent crop input companies as well as for independent producers at a time when low-commodity prices and high input costs are straining the farm economy. This, in turn, leads to fewer family farmers on the land, fewer innovators in the lab, and rural depopulation.”

Johnson added, “We were pleased to see the U.S. Department of Justice file an antitrust lawsuit to prevent a proposed merger of John Deere and Precision Planting LLC., and we ask that they reject any pending and future deals that would further cripple marketplace competition.”

In Europe, too, news of an increased offer and ongoing merger discussions between German pharmaceutical and chemical giant Bayer and Missouri-Based seed and herbicide company Monsanto has been met with anger. Environment groups and the Social Democrat party (junior partners in Merkel’s coalition government) have spoken out against the proposed merger, which would create the world’s largest agchem company. German green group Bund has warned that both companies subscribe to “A model of industrialized agriculture, which comes at the expense of people and the environment.”