Tell your state Attorney General: Stop the mega-merger of Bayer and Monsanto!

If this merger goes through, we’d be giving a single corporation unprecedented control of our food supply. The impacts on farmers and consumers could be huge. We can’t let the future of our food system be handed over to Bayer and Monsanto.

Send a message to your state AG now and stop these pesticide giants from merging!

Comments

Dear Attorney General,

As a constituent, I’m very alarmed by the proposed Bayer-Monsanto merger. This merger threatens the future of innovation in our food system, compromises our food security and endangers farmers, workers and consumers.  This merger threatens to significantly reduce competition in the industries of farming inputs, research and technology.

If Bayer and Monsanto are allowed to merge, the resulting company would be the world’s largest vegetable seed producer with a near monopoly on the broccoli, carrot and onion seed markets. It would be the world’s largest cotton seed company, owning seed for about 70% of all the cotton grown in the U.S. It would also be the largest manufacturer and seller of herbicides as well as the world’s largest owner of the intellectual property and patents for herbicide-tolerant seed traits.

The Bayer-Monsanto merger threatens all farmers and especially small farmers who have less capacity to withstand increasing input costs. The new company is taking on $60 billion in debt with the transaction, which will incentivize the companies to raise prices to pay back this debt. Further, organic and conventional seeds that are not genetically engineered will be harder to find because genetically engineered, herbicide-tolerant seeds are more profitable for these companies.

Your involvement in merger investigations is imperative for many reasons. There is a very strong antitrust case against this merger. Allowing these companies to merge will directly eliminate head-to-head competition. It will become harder for new companies to enter the market and independent seed companies will suffer when licensing cost increases. Input prices will also rise for farmers, who will have a hard time affording seeds when crop prices are already reaching record lows. Farmers are already being hurt by Monsanto’s strict rules on the use of the company’s seeds.

The general public is very concerned about this merger. A recent poll found that 9 in 10 Americans have serious concerns about the Bayer-Monsanto merger due to impacts on jobs, food safety, and independent farmers. It is clear from the poll that Americans want their elected officials to counter the move toward corporate monopolies. The poll found 90% of Americans, including 92% of Trump voters, believe that the Trump Administration should take a more aggressive stance towards corporate monopolies.

The European Union has launched an in-depth investigation into the Bayer-Monsanto merger. Here in the U.S., the Department of Justice is investigating the merger and a number of state attorneys general offices will be joining them in the investigation.

To ensure that the view of farmers, consumers and other impacted communities in our state are considered, I urge your office to join the Department of Justice’s investigation of the Bayer-Monsanto merger, and to conduct a public joint investigation.

Sincerely,

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