Some producers are heading to Washington to voice concerns
By Diego Flammini
Assistant Editor, North American Content
Farms.com
A group of farmers are heading to Washington D.C. to voice their concerns about the current agribusiness landscape.
Approximately 250 members of the National Farmers Union will meet with members of Congress and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to discuss the potential impacts of larger agribusiness mergers, including a lack of competition which could lead to higher input costs.
"(Farmers are) going to get stuck with high prices and no competitors,” Harwood Schaffer, an agricultural economist at the University of Tennessee, told Bloomberg. “At some point there needs to be a shift in government policy towards these mergers.”
Many companies are engaging in discussions about mergers or acquisitions in 2016.
Dow Chemical Co. is looking to merge with DuPont, China National Chemical has recently extended its tender offer in its purchase of Syngenta, and Bayer recently upped its bid to purchase Monsanto.
However, some farmers fear that speaking out against these mergers could hurt them financially.
“There’s a real trepidation,” Roger Johnson, president of the Farmers Union and former agricultural commissioner of North Dakota, told Bloomberg. “If you’re a farmer who’s a seed dealer, and you’re marketing whatever brand, and you’re quoted as saying something about that company, maybe you’re no longer a seed dealer anymore.”