DECEMBER 2017 SEEDWORLD.COM / 137 His family raises seed soybeans for Syngenta and Monsanto and plants corn and soybean products from Syngenta, DuPont Pioneer, Monsanto and AgReliant on their 2,000-acre farm. “During my research, it was fascinating to see how intercon- nected the chemical and seed industry has always been,” Walsh says. ”With the ongoing merger of Dow and DuPont, the pur- chase of Syngenta by ChemChina and the purchase of Monsanto by Bayer I believe the information in this project is very time appropriate.” Seed Industry Timeline The seed brand and agrochemical company trees are just the tip of Walsh’s efforts. He has also compiled a 23-page timeline of events surrounding the many chemical and seed companies that merged to form Syngenta, ChemChina, ADAMA, Monsanto, DuPont Pioneer, Dow AgroSciences, Bayer CropScience, BASF, and AgReliant Genetics. The timeline begins in 1758 when John Rudolf Geigy- Gemuseus began trading chemicals, dyes, and basic drugs in Basel Switzerland. Geigy’s company evolved and expanded its product line over the next 156 years and became J. R. Geigy Ltd in 1914. “The timeline is a work in progress and is far from complete,” he says. “It took hours and hours of research over several years to compile and create the timeline.” Walsh is working on a com- pilation of independent seed company information. SW “It took hours and hours of research over several years to compile and create the timeline.” — Robert Walsh