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Ag consolidation hearing is underway

The Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing on consolidation in the ag industry is underway on Capitol Hill.

Most of the focus is on three big transactions impacting the seed industry—the Dow/DuPont merger; Bayer’s purchase of Monsanto; and ChemChina’s acquisition of Syngenta.

Of those six companies, the only one that is not testifying at today’s hearing is ChemChina. Committee chair, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, says that’s disappointing.

“We’re concerned about ChemChina for the reasons that their government is involved and what are their ulterior motives,” Grassley says. “We could be asking that from an intellectual property standpoint. We could be asking that from a national defense standpoint.  We could be asking that from the standpoint of China’s influence on American agriculture.”

The committee will also hear from the American Farm Bureau, National Farmers Union and the National Corn Growers Association.