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Missouri Corn “ok” with Bayer/Monsanto merger

The CEO of the Missouri Corn Growers Association says there is always concern about ag mergers because of decreased competition and potentially increasing prices.

But, Gary Marshall tells Brownfield the National Corn Growers Association and American Soybean Association were proactive in getting what they wanted for growers in the pending Bayer/Monsanto merger, when they saw several products that would have overlapped, “We filed comments with the Department of Justice asking those products be spun off into other companies so that we could have, and continue to have competition in the market place to hold down prices. And, so, the U.S. Department of Justice agreed with that and those products are going to be spun off so we’re a lot more comfortable now with discussing the merger than we were perhaps a year ago.”

When asked by Brownfield, Marshall said he wouldn’t say the Missouri Corn Growers Association is “good” with the proposed Bayer/Monsanto merger but, rather, they are “okay” with it, “I think if we had to say anything right now, we’re okay with the merger. We think it’s going to go forward. And, the Department of Justice has done its due diligence as have we, I think, to make sure that it benefits the growers as much as possible. And, that’s our concern.” Marshall says corn growers across the U.S. were most concerned with products on the chemical side and soybean growers on the seed product side.