The U.S.-based National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) said it could be weeks, even months, before the full impact of Bayer-Monsanto deal is known.
Germany-based Bayer announced Sept. 14 that it would be buying Monsanto for $66 million, but it still needs to be approved by St. Louis-based Monsanto shareholders and anti-trust regulators across the globe. Bayer will pay $2 billion to Monsanto if regulators kiboshes the deal.
The NCGA said it will be hiring an independent third party to examine the deal, and would write a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice with their thoughts when the report is finished.
“The National Corn Growers Association is committed to protecting the best interests of our nation’s corn farmers,” said NCGA president Chip Bowling. “Our primary concern with respect to any merger is how it may affect input costs — particularly given the current farm economy. With respect to a previously announced merger, we completed a thorough analysis that informed the comments and information we provided to the US Department of Justice during their investigation into the merger. We would anticipate following a similar path with respect to this merger so that we can truly understand the merger’s impact on agricultural research, innovation, and competitive pricing of farm inputs.”
Monsanto has been the subject of numerous deals over the past year. A year ago, Monsanto’s US $47-billion bid to buy chemical giant Syngenta was rejected. Monsanto then looked into buying the crop sciences division of Bayer before Bayer expressed interest in buying Monsanto.
