Several large agribusiness companies are awaiting permission to merge, and that could impact the seed market. A recent studyshows seed prices will rise, and cotton farmers will be hit the hardest.
Arizona cotton is a $100 million industry, and before farmers plant their crops, they first have to buy the genetically modified seed. That cost can soar into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Now, as seed companies Monsanto and Bayer have a pending merger, as well as Dupont and Dow, Arizona farmers brace for those costs to increase.
A study out of Texas A&M University says that the proposed mergers would make corn- and soybean-seed costs creep up. But cotton farmers would pay almost 20 percent more for the seed than they do now, which amounts to almost $17 more per acre planted.
And those costs, the study says, would translate to higher prices for cotton products.
