Bayer-Monsanto merger would further tighten corporate grip on food and farming systems

Earlier today, German agribusiness giant Bayer formally requested the EU Commission’s approval for the takeover of its US seeds and pesticides rival Monsanto.

Reacting to the filing of Bayer’s application for this mega merger, Corporate Europe Observatory’s agribusiness researcher Nina Holland said:

“This planned mega merger of Bayer and Monsanto would be a highly toxic mix. If these two agribusiness giants are allowed to join forces, the corporate control over our food and farming systems would increase further, with terrible consequences for people and planet.

“While their seed patents cause crippling dependencies, their herbicides and pesticides harm soils, water quality and biodiversity. The Commission must now listen to the hundreds of thousands of people who are petitioning for a block of the deal.

“The Commission already approved two controversial mergers of big agrochemical companies earlier this year, so the pressure to reject the takeover has been growing. It is high time for the EU to oppose the extreme market concentration that results from such mergers, and to question the highly-industrialised model of agriculture sold by companies like Bayer and Monsanto.”

Contact:

Nina Holland, nina.holland@corporateeurope.org, +31 6 30285042

Notes to editors:

• Alongside 200 other civil society organisations, CEO has signed on to an open letter to Competition Commissioner Vestager, which raises objections to the planned mergers of six giant agribusiness corporations.
• For an assessment of the European Commission’s paradoxical and harmful pro-merger stance, see “Too Big to Control? The politics of mega-mergers and why the EU is not stopping them”, a new study authored for CEO by academics Angela Wigger (Radboud University, NL) and Hubert Buch-Hansen (Copenhagen Business School, DK).
• Read “A match made in hell: Six reasons why a Bayer-Monsanto merger threatens people & planet”, for an overview of the threats linked to this mega merger.
• In October 2016, CEO published a report on Monsanto’s lobbying tactics: “Monsanto lobbying: an attack on us, our planet and democracy”.