The Crop Protection Picture in 2017: Familiar Products, New Owners

Some events take time to come to pass. For instance, I remember when I first started covering the ag retail marketplace almost 20 years ago, plenty of market watchers told me the then-Big Six of Crop Protection would eventually merge into a Big Three or Four. “How soon?” I would ask. “Soon,” was always the answer.

Now, it seems as if “soon” has finally arrived for the market. By the end of 2017, the former Big Six of crop protection – Syngenta, Dow, DuPont, BASF, Bayer, and Monsanto – will have morphed into a Big Four.

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Except there will be a Fifth. Last week, as part of its efforts to win regulatory approval, the Dow-DuPont merger teams announced that they were selling a substantial portion of DuPont’s crop protection portfolio and the company’s discovery and development organization to FMC Corp. As FMC was quick to point out in a press release announcing the acquisition, this transaction will make the company the “fifth largest crop protection chemical in the world by revenue” with sales of approximately $3.8 billion. Well-known DuPont chemistries such as Rynaxypyr, Cyazypyr, and Indoxacarb will eventually carry the FMC logo on their labels, along with the DuPont’s proprietary PrecisionPac technology.

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And the wheeling and dealing won’t end here. Now that Dow/DuPont/FMC have made their moves, market speculation is that the only crop protection giant currently not in merger discussions, BASF, will likely step forward to purchase whatever assets regulators demand Bayer and Monsanto divest to complete their corporate marriage.

Which crop protection company will look the most different one year from now?

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Obviously, ag retailers CropLife magazine has spoken with recently are all anxiously waiting to see what products end up where once the merger dust finally settles. “I think it’s safe to say that when you look at companies like BASF and FMC in 2018, they will likely look completely different than they do today in what products they can offer customers,” says George Secor, President/CEO of Sunrise Cooperative, Fremont, OH.

We will all find out if this is indeed the case within the next 12 months or so.

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