Behind the Monsanto Deal, Doubts About the GMO Revolution

Farmers are reconsidering the use of biotech seeds as it becomes harder to justify their high prices amid the measly returns of the current farm economy. “The price we are paying for biotech seed now, we’re not able to capture the returns,” said Ohio farmer Joe Logan. This spring, Mr. Logan loaded up his planter with soybean seeds costing $85 a bag, nearly five times what he paid two decades ago. Next spring, he says, he plans to sow many of his corn and soybean fields with non-biotech seeds to save money. Agrochemical groups are aiming to slash costs and build scale in response to the decline in crop prices, which has forced makers of seeds, crop chemicals, fertilizers and tractors to cut prices and lay off staff.  “The crop boom is over,” analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. declared in a research note last year as combines rolled across the Farm Belt, collecting another bumper harvest after back-to-back record corn harvests in the previous two years.  Following a string of bin-busting harvests, prices for the two main U.S. agricultural crops have plummeted. U.S. farmers this year will collectively earn $9.2 billion less than they did in 2015, and 42% less than they did in 2013, according to the USDA.