Farmers might be worried about the multibillion-dollar deals transforming the agriculture industry, but independent seed companies see the consolidation as an opportunity.
“Consolidation always opens up the market,” said Myron Stine, president of Stine Seed Co. “I don’t care if it’s only 10 percent of the market that says: ‘OK, I don’t like this consolidation. I want something different.’ For a company our size, that’s an extremely big deal.”
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The bulk of Stine Seed profit comes from licensing its genetics research to bigger rivals. But customer backlash from the big mergers means the company’s revenue from its retail sales could “easily double,” Stine said in a telephone interview.
Smaller companies also may find an edge over pricier biotech products, said Jason Miner, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. The market for seeds with multiple traits to control different types of insects and to withstand multiple weed killers may have reached a saturation point, he said.
“Traditional breeding may actually be on the rise,” Miner said. “Farmers are less interested in speculating on high-cost, potential yield boosters. They want cost-effective solutions.”
The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Monsanto’s smaller rivals see big opportunity amid seed M&A
