(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


Bayer’s objective is to produce wheat hybrids that help farmers be more competitive in the market place and also help feed the world.

Bayer brings hybrid spring wheats to Saskatchewan

Bayer hopes to have its new spring wheat hybrids in farmers' fields in six to eight years

On a blustery June day, officials cut the ribbon on Bayer CropScience’s new wheat breeding centre near Pike Lake, Saskatchewan. But the wheat varieties coming out of that research station south of Saskatoon will be unlike other varieties grown in Western Canada, as the company is developing hybrid spring wheat varieties in Saskatchewan. Today’s wheat […] Read more

(Syngenta.com)

U.S. watchdog clears ChemChina’s takeover of Syngenta

Zurich | Reuters — A U.S. regulator has cleared ChemChina’s US$43 billion takeover of Swiss pesticides and seeds group Syngenta, the companies said Monday, boosting chances that the largest foreign acquisition ever by a Chinese company will go through. The decision should remove significant uncertainty over whether the acquisition of the world’s largest pesticides maker […] Read more