As the pool of agribusiness giants shrinks, will innovation follow?

The small number of major companies in the agricultural biotechnology sector is about to get even smaller. Three big mergers have been put forward in the past year that, if completed, will have significant implications for the future of the industry, which lies at the center of efforts to more efficiently use limited resources to feed a growing global population. If the mergers overcome the hurdles ahead of them, they could shape the development of future technologies, affecting more than just the corporate bottom line in the long run.

Before the first of the current merger processes was initiated at the end of 2015, the top six companies in agrochemical industry sales — Syngenta, Bayer Crop Science, BASF, Dow AgroSciences, Monsanto and DuPont — controlled roughly two-thirds of the global seed market and three-quarters of the pesticide market, thanks to consolidation in the late 20th century. Now, some of those corporations are seeking to coalesce even further.