Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84OCTOBER 2016 SEEDWORLD.COM / 17 BASF is left standing for the time being. But couple these happenings with the Sept. 12 announcement of Potash Corp and Agrium merging, and there’s a great deal of concern across the agricultural industry and on Capitol Hill. “When does the size of companies and concentra- tion in the market reach a tipping point, so much that it becomes anti-competitive?” Grassley asked. Company representatives testifying included James Collins, DuPont Agriculture Division executive vice president; Tim Hassinger, Dow AgroSciences president and CEO; Erik Fyrwald, Syngenta International AG CEO; Jim Blome, Bayer CropScience North America president and CEO; and Robb Fraley, Monsanto execu- tive vice president and chief technology officer. Additionally, Diana Moss, American Antitrust Institute president; Bob Young, American Farm Bureau Federation chief economist and deputy executive director, public policy; Chris Novak, National Corn Growers Association CEO; and Roger Johnson, National Farmers Union president, provided testimony. During their testimony, nearly all company repre- sentatives cited the need for increased “innovation” as the leading reason for the roadmap outlined above. Innovation Drives Consolidation “Innovation is a requirement, not a choice,” said Collins of DuPont. “Combining our capabilities [with Dow AgroSciences] will help drive more innovation faster and bring more competition to the market.” He went on to explain that the merger would create one company that’s fully focused on farmers and can bring to market products that thrive in drought, have an increased nutritional profile, promote sustainability and improve the profitability of customers. Dow’s Hassinger added that the merger is “pro competitive,” citing increased competition in seeds and traits. “Today, there is one [seed and trait provider],” Hassinger said. “You must have germplasm and traits … [this merger] brings traits and germplasm together to better compete.” It costs on average $136 million and 13 years to bring a biotech product to market, Hassinger said, noting that both companies share a farmer-focused culture and they look to bring innovations forward. During the hearing, Syngenta’s Fyrwald was repeat- edly questioned about receiving preferential treatment from China with respect to product regulatory approv- als. Each time, he stated that “Syngenta will remain Syngenta” with its headquarters in Basel, Switzerland. Fyrwald said Syngenta will continue to employ 4,000 people across 44 states in the U.S. and will maintain the same structure — no jobs lost and no jobs moving overseas. “We believe this is a pro farmer transaction,” Fyrwald said. “Competition will be maintained.” When looking at the Bayer-Monsanto transaction, Blome said the transaction is between two “unlike” companies with little geographic overlap; however, it allows them to combine skillsets. He said the compa- nies jointly plan to advance digital farming and will be able to develop new customization tools. Monsanto’s Fraley compared the need for innova- tion in agriculture to the advances being made by Google, which is pivoting from its traditional space to build a driverless car, and Amazon, which is developing a rocket ship. “Fortunately, the pace of innovation is accelerating, and new tools and applications are creating a healthy disruption in agriculture,” Fraley said. “Agriculture can and should similarly embrace these revolutionary tech- nologies.” Fraley said that the solutions needed to feed 10 bil- lion people by 2050, mitigate climate change, improve sustainability and increase farm productivity can only come from change and if companies are allowed to embrace new technology and increase their invest- ments in research and development. “That’s why you are seeing the latest round of mergers right now,” he said. However, the American Antitrust Institute’s Moss doesn’t see these mergers as beneficial. The Creation of a Duopoly Moss said the proposed merger of Dow and DuPont would combine the fourth and fifth largest rivals, and that a Monsanto-Bayer merger would combine the first and third largest firms. The two mergers together would therefore create a Big 4, dominated by a Monsanto-Bayer and Dow-DuPont duopoly with almost 70 percent of the global market, she said. During her testimony, Moss outlined that the pro- posed mergers are likely to adversely affect competi- tion in three ways: 1.  They will eliminate head-to-head competition in markets for certain crop seed and chemicals. 2.  Consolidation will eliminate competition in agricultural biotechnology innovation markets $43 billion was put on the table by ChemChina for Syngenta. 2015 is when Dow and DuPont announced their merger. $66 billion was offered by Bayer for Monsanto. 13 years is the average time to bring a biotech product to market. 70% of the global market would be captured by Monsanto- Bayer and Dow-DuPont if the mergers are approved. STATS