The "Monsanto Years" Are About To Become the "Bayer Years"
The "Monsanto Years" are about to become the "Bayer Years".
Today, the financial press is all abuzz about the $65 billion mega-deal between German pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer AG and multinational seed and pesticide corporation Monsanto Co. The merger will further reduce competition in the “farm supplies industry” -- an already highly consolidated market -- while combining Bayer's crop science with Monsanto’s near-monopoly in seeds.
Does this re-branding change the calculus of corporate corruption? No, not at all.
This re-branding is simply another chapter in the desperate narrative to stay one step ahead of the average citizen waking up to the one of the longest running corporate crimes of all time. Oh really, one might ask? Well -- if in doubt -- check out Hidden History Of Bayer: IG Farben, Standard Oil, Wall Street, Nazi Germany .
As Sum of Us summarizes:
The merger would eliminate direct competition between two of the largest players in the traited seed sector, with direct consequences for seed development, herbicide markets, and innovative and open research and development.
A merger will mean the new Bayer-Monsanto conglomerate will control nearly 70% of the cotton acreage in the United States – unacceptably high by antitrust standards. It would also have unacceptable market concentration in wide swaths of commercial seed development and sales for other commonly used varieties, including traited canola, soybeans, and corn developed in North America.
The new corporation would likely lead to higher input prices, with less choice and higher food prices for consumers, and fewer non-biotechnology options available to farmers and consumers.
The Monsanto Years - Neil Young + Promise Of The Real
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More on Neil Young + Promise of the Real's album 'The Monsanto Years' (Reviews).
Labels: album, monsanto years, neil young
by thrasher@PermaLink: 9/14/2016 12:30:00 PM
5 comments
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5 Comments:
What a deal, now the same company that pollutes us can be our f*Y@#$g health savior as well.
You say you want a revolution? Well you know, we all want to save the world.
WELL do we?
Cannot believe the SEC let this thing go thru. Now Bayer can combine their neonicodide pesticides with Roundup Ready corn.
My wife has a new job doing outreach on soil health to farmers and it has opened up both of our eyes. Industrial agriculture does not support healthy soil in the least. My wife gives this demonstration in which she places healthy soil in one glass of water and industrial farmed soil in another. The water with the healthy soil stays very clear while the industrial farmed soil disperses instantly and makes the water completely turbid. My wife explains that it is all the biological activity that cements the healthy soil together.
She was giving demonstrations last month at the Minnesota State Fair and a lot of younger farmers were VERY interested in sustainable approaches to soil health. Older farmers, not so much, but there is a real sea change coming in agriculture and it's coming from the millennial generation - no-till farming, cover crop, and alternative pest control. And you know what? All those processes doing something VERY interesting - they tie up carbon in the soil. I've been so blind.
@SONY - exactly. One branch of the new corp will poison you so the other branch can sell you medicine to fix it. Brilliant business strategy.
@Ol Black - Thanks for sharing this. What a great example. So simple and clear that even a child can understand.
Once again, another demonstration that Neil fans are some of the smartest music fans out there.
We're really looking forward to Farm Aid this weekend. We'll also be at the Press Conf and are anxious to hear what The Founders have to say about this deal made by the devil in hell.
Yes, I saw this in the papers. Some of us still read "the paper".
My thoughts are two-fold: 1) I'm of a mind that there needs to be independent research for agriculture, pharmaceuticals--pretty much everywhere. That is, research not owned, operated, or dominated by corporate interests. The universities and other research facilities in this country (and around the world) must be allowed to do their job, free of pressure or meddling from either big business or government interests. Of course that's hard as long as we blur the line between national interests and corporate interests. Which leads to point 2): It seems to me that solving many of our basic economic problems may require some fundamental changes to our business models. Specifically, I'd like to see a world with a proliferation of smaller businesses, rather than just a few big ones gradually sucking everything up through mergers and acquisitions. We can't allow ourselves, as a society, to be dependent on large multi-nationals for everything, and we should certainly move to curb an international economic model that favors such large conglomerations, and the monopolies they tend to create. I'm painting in broad strokes here, but my point is that the answer isn't isolation, turning our backs on the global economy in the guise of protectionism, but a good, long look at (and careful reorientation of) our way of doing business. We must encourage and incentivize the growth of small businesses, while seeking to create a global economic system that steps up regulation (antitrust, environmental, fair labor and trade practices, and so on) of multi-nationals and other big business entities and keeps them from getting *too* big. Among other things, I'd like to see greater use of profit-sharing and co-op arrangements, and more incentives for small businesses to start up and get foothold in the market. We need a system that does not lopsidedly favor the biggest, most financially powerful corporations and business entities in the name of a "free" market.
@ Ian - the system is definitely broken ... or fixed ... depending on your perspective of the 99% or the 1%.
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