(Dave Bedard photo)

Monsanto shareholders back Bayer deal

Chicago | Reuters –– Shareholders of U.S. seeds and agrochemicals company Monsanto approved the company’s US$66 billion acquisition by Bayer on Tuesday, a deal that still requires regulatory approval to close as expected in late 2017. Increased research and development spending by the combined companies and plans to develop a global seeds and biotechnology hub […] Read more

NorthStar Genetics has four new varieties on offer for 2017.

New soybean seed varieties for 2017

Twenty-four new soybean varieties are coming to the market for western Canadian farmers

If you haven’t been watching the market for new soybean seed, you have some catching up to do. There are 24 new varieties — that’s right, 24 — for 2017. And that is just the new varieties, not the almost-new varieties that have been released in the last two or three years. Companies have been […] Read more



Syngenta’s Interaction Centre at Stein, Switzerland. (Syngenta.com)

ChemChina reported ready for concessions to clinch Syngenta deal

Beijing/Zurich | Reuters — State-owned Chinese chemicals group ChemChina is ready to offer more concessions to win European Union antitrust approval for its US$43 billion bid for Swiss pesticide and seed group Syngenta, a source with direct knowledge of the process said. Clinching China’s biggest-ever foreign acquisition is taking longer than planned amid a flurry […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Monsanto surprises with adjusted profit as expenses drop

Reuters — U.S. seeds and agrochemicals company Monsanto, which agreed last month to be bought by Germany’s Bayer for US$66 billion, reported a surprise adjusted profit, helped by a drop in expenses and higher corn seed volumes. Monsanto agreed in September to a sweetened $128-per-share offer from Bayer that, if approved by regulators, would create […] Read more

(Dow.com)

Agricultural merger mania fuels fears among small seed sellers

Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Justice Department is looking into concerns that global consolidation among major seed and agricultural chemical companies may squeeze supplies of the building blocks for widely used genetically modified seeds, a farm group told Reuters. The department has asked the American Soybean Association for details about how small and independent […] Read more


(CropScience.Bayer.ca)

U.S. lawmakers skeptical of ag chemical, seed merger wave

Washington | Reuters — U.S. lawmakers expressed concern on Tuesday over a wave of mergers among companies that sell farmers their seeds, herbicides and insecticides, worrying that the deals could lead to higher prices and less innovation at a time of dropping farm incomes. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said the proposed mergers […] Read more



Bayer CEO Werner Baumann (l) and Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant on Wednesday announced plans for a friendly merger in which Bayer will buy all Monsanto stock for US$128 per share. (PRNewsFoto/Bayer)

Bayer clinches Monsanto with raised US$66 billion bid

New York/Frankfurt | Reuters — German drugs and crop chemicals company Bayer has won over U.S. seeds firm Monsanto with an improved takeover offer of US$66 billion including debt, ending months of wrangling after increasing its bid for a third time. The $128 a share deal announced on Wednesday, up from Bayer’s previous offer of […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Bayer sweetens Monsanto bid as talks enter final stretch

Reuters — German pharmaceutical and crops manufacturer Bayer said on Monday that its negotiations with Monsanto had advanced, and that it was now willing to offer more than US$65 billion to acquire the world’s largest seeds company. Bayer’s announcement came as the gap in price expectations between the two companies has narrowed significantly, although important […] Read more