The world’s largest seed company, Monsanto, “has abandoned efforts to pursue large-scale deals, instead charting an independent path amid a steep downturn in the agricultural business,” said the Wall Street Journal. Monsanto chief Hugh Grant, in a tele-conference, told analysts, “We need to get real. The landscape has shifted and we need to focus on driving that innovation (in pesticides) by other means.” Monsanto set off merger fever last year with an unsuccessful bid for Syngenta, a Swiss rival in the seed and agricultural chemical business.
Since then, the downturn in the farm economy that began in 2013 has translated into lower revenue for agricultural equipment, seed and chemical companies. Grant said partnerships and collaborations are a more likely path for Monsanto to expand its presence in ag chemicals, reported the Journal. Monsanto would provide expertise in seed genetics, to be coupled with other companies’ knowledge of chemistry to kill plant pests.
Monsanto reported second-quarter income of $1.063 billion, down from $1.425 billion during the second quarter of 2015.