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TWN Info Service on Sustainable Agriculture
15 August 2025
Third World Network

Dear Friends and Colleagues

Growing Corporate Concentration in Agriculture

This report examines the state of corporate concentration in six sectors critical to agriculture: commercial seeds, pesticides, synthetic fertilisers, farm machinery, animal pharmaceuticals and livestock genetics. Corporate consolidation is increasing in most of these sectors and four of them – seeds, pesticides, agricultural machinery and animal pharmaceuticals – meet the definition of an oligopoly, in which four companies control more than 40% of a market.

BASF, Bayer, Corteva and Syngenta control 56% of the global seeds market (worth USD 50 bil.) and 61% of the pesticides market (worth USD 79 bil.). These companies see opportunity in the shift to biologicals, agrofuels, digital agriculture and carbon farming. Like the pesticide companies, the fertiliser companies are investing in biofertilisers and biostimulants, and marketing these as “complementary” to their synthetic fertilisers, often through digital platforms and carbon credit schemes.

Corporations are also rapidly integrating AI, gene editing, and digital platforms into agriculture through partnerships with Big Tech companies. These technologies enable data extraction from farmers, facilitate carbon credit schemes, and tighter control over food systems – while raising concerns about biosafety, privacy, and corporate monopolies.

Concentration gives corporations more power – to dictate prices, lobby policy makers, disrupt scientific research, block regulations that protect health and the environment, and undermine democratic participation in the shaping of food systems. It increases their ability to suppress alternatives and expand a model of agriculture that is immensely profitable for them while being destructive for people and the planet. Actions are urgently needed to counter the monopoly power of these corporations and to put power back into the hands of the world’s food producers, workers and consumers.

With best wishes,
Third World Network

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TOP 10 AGRIBUSINESS GIANTS: CORPORATE CONCENTRATION IN FOOD & FARMING IN 2025

by ETC Group & GRAIN
https://grain.org/e/728
10 June 2025

Today a handful of agribusiness corporations have consolidated unprecedented control over the world’s food supply, with devastating consequences for farmers, consumers and the planet. A new report by ETC Group and GRAIN examines the state of corporate concentration in six sectors critical to agriculture: commercial seeds, pesticides, synthetic fertilisers, farm machinery, animal pharmaceuticals and livestock genetics.

Corporate consolidation is increasing in most of these sectors and four of them– seeds, pesticides, agricultural machinery and animal pharmaceuticals– now meet the definition of an oligopoly, in which four companies control more than 40% of a market. Concentration can be even higher at the national level, as is the case with synthetic fertilisers.

Top findings from the report include:

  • Oligopolies dominate key sectors: Bayer, Corteva, Syngenta, and BASF control 56% of the global commercial seeds market, and 61% of the pesticides market.
  • Profiteering amid global crises: Agribusiness giants have exploited crises like the Ukraine war and the COVID-19 pandemic to inflate prices. Fertiliser companies, for instance, saw revenues soar by 57% from 2020 to 2023, with some accused of price gouging.
  • Digital and biotech expansion: Corporations are rapidly integrating AI, gene editing, and digital platforms into agriculture through partnerships with Big Tech companies. These technologies enable data extraction from farmers, facilitate carbon credit schemes, and tighter control over food systems—while raising concerns about biosafety, privacy, and corporate monopolies.

Read the full report at: https://grain.org/e/7284 

 

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