{"id":1564,"date":"2018-09-04T22:52:13","date_gmt":"2018-09-05T03:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/?p=1564"},"modified":"2018-09-04T22:52:13","modified_gmt":"2018-09-05T03:52:13","slug":"monsanto-bayer-merger-hurts-farmers-and-consumers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/?p=1564","title":{"rendered":"Monsanto-Bayer merger hurts farmers and consumers"},"content":{"rendered":"<section id=\"module-position-RJU0W2i-Aqw\" class=\"storytopbar-bucket story-headline-module story-story-headline-module\">\n<p class=\"asset-headline speakable-headline\">By: Jim Goodman and Tiffany Finck-Haynes<\/p>\n<p>Published in the Des Moines Register, Sept. 1st, 2018<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"module-position-RJU0W2jSf3U\" class=\"storytopbar-bucket piano-module story-piano-module\"><\/section>\n<section id=\"module-position-RJU0W2jWGUw\" class=\"storytopbar-bucket bounce-exchange-module story-bounce-exchange-module\"><\/section>\n<section id=\"module-position-RJU0W2ibbR8\" class=\"storytopbar-bucket google-survey-module story-google-survey-module\"><\/section>\n<div class=\"asset-double-wide double-wide p402_premium\" role=\"main\">\n<div id=\"module-position-RJU0W5WXglw\" class=\"story-asset story-metadata-asset\">\n<div class=\"article-metadata-wrap\">\n<section id=\"module-position-RJU0W4-qkIs\" class=\"storymetadata-bucket expandable-photo-module story-expandable-photo-module\">\n<aside class=\"single-photo expandable-collapsed\">\n<div class=\"image-wrap\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"expand-img-horiz\" src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/4e6c4649134f4e1c46375789606d4e85bc5e7758\/c=566-0-5043-3366\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/05\/14\/IAGroup\/DesMoines\/636618959140362938-Monsanto-KK-03.JPG?width=534&amp;height=401&amp;fit=crop\" alt=\"636618959140362938-Monsanto-KK-03.JPG\" data-mycapture-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/media\/2018\/05\/14\/IAGroup\/DesMoines\/636618959140362938-Monsanto-KK-03.JPG\" data-mycapture-sm-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/-mm-\/4044b1e7645488621f157de466cf1a990870caa2\/r=500x333\/local\/-\/media\/2018\/05\/14\/IAGroup\/DesMoines\/636618959140362938-Monsanto-KK-03.JPG\" \/><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"module-position-RJU0W5WUpxU\" class=\"story-asset inline-share-tools-asset\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-1 p-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable-p-2 p-text\">The anti-competitive price effects of the merger would, according to the DOJ, \u201clikely result in hundreds of millions of dollars per year in harm, raising costs to farmers and consumers.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">But the harm to consumers and farmers will still exist.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Farmers overwhelmingly object to the merger. Ninety-three percent of farmers expressed concern that the merger will harm independent farmers and farming communities. Farmers\u2019 top three concerns were that Bayer\/Monsanto \u201cwould use its dominance in one product to push sales of other products;\u201d \u201ccontrol data about farm practices;\u201d and that the merger will create \u201cincreased pressure for chemically dependent farming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Bayer and Monsanto\u2019s merger comes at a moment when powerful companies push farmers into dependence on their products, locking farmers into long-term contracts. \u00a0A consolidating food system means less choice for consumers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">\u201cThis 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\u2019 livelihoods at risk,\u201d noted Ben Burkett, a Mississippi vegetable farmer and past board president of National Family Farm Coalition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">For farmers, the merger will likely push up production costs. Farmers\u2019 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 \u2014 in turn harming our environment and health.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">Farmers\u2019 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">As the Trump administration moves to give another handout to corporate agriculture, family farmers will pay the price.<\/p>\n<p>Farmers aren\u2019t fooled by claims that Monsanto divestments will make this merger beneficial and non-monopolistic. Consumers and policymakers shouldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\">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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p-text\"><em>Jim Goodman is the\u00a0Board President of the National Family Farm Coalition.<\/em><\/p>\n<p id=\"article-body-p-last\" class=\"p-text p-text-last\"><em>Tiffany Finck-Haynes is Senior Food Futures Campaigner for\u00a0Friends of the Earth.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Jim Goodman and Tiffany Finck-Haynes Published in the Des Moines Register, Sept. 1st, 2018 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 &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/?p=1564\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1565,"href":"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1564\/revisions\/1565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/familyfarmers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}