The Justice Department should conduct “a careful analysis” of whether the proposed Dow-DuPont merger will create an agro-chemical giant that unfairly dominates seed and pesticide sales, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said in a letter to antitrust regulators.
“I have heard concerns that the merger will vertically integrate traits, seed and chemicals, which will make it more difficult for smaller biotechnology companies, independent producers and independent crop-input companies to compete,” Sen. Chuck Grassley wrote in a letter Tuesday. “I have also heard concerns that the merger will reduce cultivation, chemical and seed choices for farmers, as well as raise prices for them — which ultimately will impact consumers and the food system.”
Under the proposal approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Dow and DuPont would consolidate into DowDuPont Inc. for 18 to 24 months and then split into three separate businesses. Each would specialize in products Dow and DuPont already manufacture, from seeds and herbicides to plastics and electronics.
Grassley, who hails from Iowa, the country’s No. 1 corn state, was not the only one calling for an antitrust analysis. The American Antitrust Institute, Food & Water Watch and the National Farmers Union wrote a 16-page letter condemning the merger, fearing that in addition to the proposed Monsanto-Bayer and Syngenta-ChemChina mergers, independent competitors and farmers would be unsustainable.
“Any prospective merger of Monsanto and Bayer would combine the 1st and 3rd largest [agriculture-related] firms,” the groups wrote. “The two mergers together would therefore create a Big 4, dominated by a Monsanto-Bayer and Dow-DuPont duopoly.”