The
U.S. Department of Justice issued a stern warning in its lawsuit
against the conditionally-approved mega-merger between Bayer and
Monsanto in June.
The
anti-competitive price effects of the merger would, according to the
DOJ, “likely result in hundreds of millions of dollars per year in
harm, raising costs to farmers and consumers.” The Justice
Department warned that the combining of Bayer and Monsanto would
reduce competition for vegetable seeds, likely driving up prices.
Further, farmers might see prices for GMO cotton, canola, corn and
soybean seeds increase, as well as price increases for herbicide and
seed treatments.
After
imposing some limited divestments on Monsanto, the DOJ approved this
merger, enabling Monsanto to hide its controversial name brand while
giving Bayer anti-competitive control over seeds, pesticides, farmers
and consumers worldwide.
But
the harm to consumers and farmers will still exist.
The
DOJ is on the brink of essentially authorizing a monopoly. This is
bad news for nearly everyone on the planet except Bayer and Monsanto
executives and shareholders. Aside from a combined Bayer-Monsanto,
only three other seed companies will be in the market manufacture and
sell these products.
Farmers
overwhelmingly object to the merger. Ninety-three percent of farmers
expressed concern that the merger will harm independent farmers and
farming communities. Farmers’ top three concerns were that
Bayer/Monsanto “would use its dominance in one product to push
sales of other products;” “control data about farm practices;”
and that the merger will create “increased pressure for chemically
dependent farming.”
Aside
from the overwhelming number of farmers that have already voiced
opposition to the merger, the DOJ has received petitions from over 1
million Americans urging the agency to block the merger. This month,
thousands of farmers and Americans resubmitted comments urging the
agency to reverse its harmful conditional approval. Iowa Attorney
General Tom Miller joined a letter with the state attorneys general
from California, Massachusetts, Mississippi and Oregon submitted a
letter opposing the merger.
Bayer
and Monsanto’s merger comes at a moment when powerful companies
push farmers into dependence on their products, locking farmers into
long-term contracts. A consolidating food system means less
choice for consumers.
“This
mega-merger will give the company a stranglehold on the vegetable
seed, cottonseed, corn and soy seed markets, which will only increase
prices and put farmers’ livelihoods at risk,” noted Ben Burkett,
a Mississippi vegetable farmer and past board president of National
Family Farm Coalition.
For
farmers, the merger will likely push up production costs. Farmers’
concerns are backed up by history, in which mega-mergers have
diminished competition and options for both farmers and consumers
while promoting more chemical-based farming — in turn harming our
environment and health.
As
seed and GMO companies have consolidated over the past 20 years. Much
of that price increase comes from companies increasing fees for seeds
as they genetically modify new traits into our food. The cost of
these new technologies has exploded the price of seeds; between 32
and 74 percent of the price of seed for corn, soybeans, cotton and
sugar beets in the United States and the European Union was estimated
to reflect technology costs or the cost of seed treatments.
Farmers’
net profits continues to shrink. Reduced earnings have forced most
farmers to take on second jobs; 82 percent of U.S. farm household
income is expected to come from off-farm work this year, up from 53
percent in 1960.
As
the Trump administration moves to give another handout to corporate
agriculture, family farmers will pay the price.
Farmers
aren’t fooled by claims that Monsanto divestments will make this
merger beneficial and non-monopolistic. Consumers and policymakers
shouldn’t be fooled, either. On our farms, in our soil and on our
supermarket shelves, the merger of Bayer and Monsanto means fewer
options for a cleaner, healthier and more farmer-friendly food
system.
As
the Department of Justice moves to make a final decision, they should
stop this merger and save farmers and consumers from this new
monopoly.
>> The article above was written by Jim Goodman and Tiffany Finch-Haynes. Jim
Goodman is
the Board President of the National Family Farm Coalition.
Tiffany
Finck-Haynes is
Senior Food Futures Campaigner for Friends of the Earth.
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