All Eyes on the Seed Sector

Now that the dust is finally beginning to settle on the mega-company mergers, there promises to be renewed focus on some of the crop input market segments. In particular, expect plenty of activity for this upcoming growing season and beyond in the seed category.

For the most part, the seed business has been dominated by two major players – Monsanto and DuPont Pioneer – in the corn and soybean segments. Outside of these Big Two, however, other companies are beginning to make some significant market noise. At the recent 2018 Commodity Classic show in February, Syngenta President of Seeds David Hollinrake stated that the company was planning to “double down” on its NK seeds business going forward by introducing 31 new corn hybrids and 21 new soybean hybrids.

Advertisement

“We already hold the No. 3 position among seed suppliers, with an eye toward strengthening this in the short term and eventually becoming the No. 2 seed supplier in the long term,” said Hollinrake. Since then, Syngenta has also expanded its footprint in the vegetable seed market by acquiring Abbott & Cobb.

Top Articles
TFI: Phosphate and Potash Are Critical Minerals, Senate Bill to Solidify

Speaking of vegetable seeds, a new player, BASF, is gearing up to take its crack at the seed category as well. To complete its planned acquisition of Monsanto, Bayer has been forced to divest several seed lines, including its vegetable seeds in certain parts of the world and LibertyLink seeds, which are resistant to glufosinate herbicide. This potentially sees another company vying for the No. 3 or No. 4 position among seed suppliers.

How do you believe the seed category will look at the end of 2018?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

And more seed industry moves are likely to come between now and the beginning of the 2019 season. One year from now, it will be interesting to see what market changes happen next because of these.

0
Advertisement