Seeds of change
Monsanto, the world's leading supplier of crop seeds has announced it will acquire privately-held Seminis, the leading supplier of fruit and vegetable seeds in the world. Seminis provides some 3,500 varieties of seeds to farmers and distributors. The deal between the two US-based companies will go for around $1.4 billion.
Monsanto is also the leader in making biotechnological changes to the major crop seeds, making genetically modified (GM) corn and soy products, as a result, so there is major concern that it will try to work its magic on produce lines, which have seen little GM so far According to The Guardian ("Monsanto has GM crop plans for seed firm with GM in mind", 1/25/2005)
Monsanto said it would initially pursue the Seminis strategy of developing products with longer shelf lives and less need for agricultural chemicals through conventional advanced breeding techniques. The option of later genetically engineering the seeds though will cause a chill among opponents.
Seminis's largest competitors in fruit and vegetable seed business are Switzerland's Syngenta and France's LimaGrain. Monsanto biggest rival in the major crop seeds business is DuPont.
According to a Reuters story (1/2/2005)
The deal comes as Monsanto is shifting its focus from the highly competitive herbicide chemical business to the seed industry, where it has seen strong growth recently.
Concern that the world's seed supply is gradually getting into the hands of a small number of companies who ruthlessly protect their patents and restrict diversity is a prospect that should have the world as worried as global warning.
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