Why Iowans should care about antitrust enforcement

But in 2012, ProSoy sold its germplasm assets to Bayer, the German agrochemical giant. Bayer was playing catch-up; its rivals such as Monsanto were already on an extended buying spree. From 2005 to 2007, Monsanto alone gobbled up more than two dozen smaller seed companies. Fast-forward to today. The giants are now consuming each other. During another three-year frenzy, agriculture’s Big Six have all merged or been acquired. ChemChina bought Syngenta. Dow and DuPont merged. And Bayer and Monsanto recently received final U.S. antitrust approval to merge. Their deal creates a $66 billion multinational conglomerate that will — despite the U.S. Department of Justice requiring them to sell off some assets — wield immense power over Iowa’s farmers and communities. While I was a practicing lawyer in the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, I took part in a handful of agricultural merger reviews. Farmers would occasionally voice public concerns about what they saw as increasing consolidation. In nearly every sector of the ag economy, the big kept getting bigger. Yet, to be honest, we didn’t take those farmers very seriously. Sure, DOJ held a national “listening tour.” It even brought a case — one case, mind you — to block a small chicken processor from buying a single plant in western Virginia. The case ultimately settled, though, when the buyer promised to install a new freezer and some deboning equipment. Hardly a resounding victory for the farm community. Most modern trustbusters have a very narrow view of the dangers posed by monopolies: slightly higher prices and slightly lower output. The real threat is much more serious. Loss of local control is a massive drag on local economies.