As the ag industry continues to consolidate into larger and larger corporations, reactions from farmers and farm-groups have been decidedly mixed.
As Agweb reports, Bayer and Monsanto have announced their agreement to merge. Nebraska farmer Dave Warner is unsure of the development. On one hand, he fears these corporate monoliths will be able to force their own pricing onto farmers. On the other hand, he thinks innovation will probably be better and the industry will see improvements faster.
Dow and DuPont have also proposed a merger, as have ChemChina and Syngenta, and John Deere and Precision Planting.
Bob Young is the chief economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation. He said farmers are justified in their concern. Even so, he thinks innovation at that kind of huge scale can be a good thing.