Lauren Etter is reporting for the Wall Street Journal online that Monsanto Co. “said Thursday that it has received request from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ‘in recent month’ over whether or not the seed giant has violated antitrust laws.The St. Louis-based company is the biggest manufacturer of genetically modified seeds farmers use survive through droughts and fight off pests. This look into Monsanto’s operation, according to the DOJ, could be part of a larger effort of the department “to scrutinize competition in many sectors of agriculture industry, including seeds, dairy, and meat.”
Some regular readers may remember that a time back the DOJ and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced they were going to host a serious of workshops across the nation and competitiveness issues would be something they were going to examine. While it appears only one such workshop has been held, Christin Varney, chief of the DOJs antitrust division is committed to looking into competition issued in agriculture. For their part, Monsanto maintains the inquiry is business as usual.
Over the years Monsanto has acquired other companies, some of them competitors, and because of some of these acquisition, the company has also had to divest itself of some its own business. Right now Monsanto is involved in a patent-infringement lawsuit against DuPont, who, for their part have filed a counterclaim “that alleges Monsanto has waged an anti-competitive campaign to win market share.”
We have the two branches of the government and two major companies all looking into each others’ work. Interesting.
To read the post about the DOJ joining up with the USDA click here.
To read Lauren Etter’s report for the Wall Street Journal click here.
Posted: 10/09/09
