'Big 6' Agrochemical Companies

[Business and Politics]

The ‘Big 6’ agrochemical companies—Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow Agrosciences, BASF, Bayer, and Pioneer (DuPont) are in a pretty scary position; scary to you and I that is.

Collectively, these companies control nearly 70% of the global pesticide market, and practically all of the market for genetically modified seeds.   Furthermore, as a result of severe drought in key growing regions, prices of the crops they focus on—corn, soy, cotton, etc.—are soaring, and higher crop prices typically translate to increased pesticide sales as farmers have more money to spend on agrichemicals and more incentive to maximize yield.

These companies operate globally, but nowhere is their stronghold greater than in the biotech-friendly US; their #1 profit center. There are two potential impediments to the continued explosion of their profits in the US, and the continued negative impacts to the healthful aspects of our foods:

1)   Any delay in the regulatory process for a new generation of seeds engineered for resistance to multiple herbicides (since Round-up is becoming less and less effective)

2)   Any major move to require labeling of foods containing GMOs, a requirement already in play in many other countries—including the European Union, China, Japan, and South Korea—and one for which the US public has expressed overwhelming support. 

Unsurprisingly, the ‘Big 6’ are investing millions of their vast profits into forestalling both of those menaces.

Full article: j.mp/JMS1337