Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 3/28/22

The Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department will hear from farmers, ranchers, grocers, restaurateurs and other groups today on how mergers have affected the food and agriculture industries, ahead of the administration’s planned revamp of merger guidelines — an effort that could help shape fast-growing sectors like agricultural biotech and precision ag technologies.

The backdrop: The food and agriculture industries have seen a wave of mergers since 2015. For example, one corner of agribusiness today is dominated by BASF, ChemChina (which bought Syngenta in 2017), Bayer (which acquired Monsanto in 2018) and Dow-Dupont, which merged in 2019 and then split into three companies.

Meatpacking, of course, has its own handful of dominant corporations. And DOJ is currently reviewing a merger between Sanderson Farms and Continental Grain’s Wayne Farms, two of the largest U.S. chicken processors.

The food retail sector has seen its own consolidation: The FTC okayed Albertsons acquisition of Safeway in 2015 on condition that the company sell off a number of stores in the Pacific Northwest. But Albertsons promptly rebought those stores the next year, after the buyer filed for bankruptcy. Online commerce giant Amazon also joined the grocery business in 2017 by acquiring Whole Foods.

Ag tech trends: The agencies’ new merger guidance, expected later this year, could play a key role in the future of emerging technology focused on improving farming and crop yields through software, biotech and robotics, among other efforts.
Population growth and climate change are two of the biggest drivers pushing investment in agricultural technologies, which saw a record $10.5 billion in investment last year, according to a report last week from research company PitchBook.

The majority of startups — about 60 percent — are based in North America, with ag biotech aimed at boosting crop or animal yields and precision ag among the areas with the highest number of new companies. (Read on for more on food tech.)

Today: More than 30 people are expected to provide comments at the virtual listening session this afternoon.