At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on competition in the seed and fertilizer industries, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), the committee's Ranking Member, questioned industry leaders about rising costs faced by Illinois farmers. The hearing, titled “Pressure Cooker: Competition Issues in the Seed & Fertilizer Industries,” addressed concerns that mergers and acquisitions have led to higher prices and reduced innovation in agriculture.
Durbin asked Corey Rosenbusch, CEO of the Fertilizer Institute, about the role of federal antitrust enforcement in agriculture. Rosenbusch responded, "We need a strong domestic fertilizer industry to compete in the global marketplace, especially when you are looking at countries that are often state-owned enterprises producing fertilizers." He added that both the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) had reviewed recent mergers properly and said supply and demand had not been interrupted.
Durbin challenged these assertions, arguing that farmers are paying more for equipment and seeds as a result of consolidation. "The farmers who are buying your products say you’re killing them. You’ve consolidated so they have few ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ choices. Your prices are killing them. When you say that you’re competitive globally, it doesn’t help the farmer in Illinois, and I wouldn’t know that the global market is competitive," Durbin said.
He also highlighted how a small number of companies now dominate both sectors: Bayer, Corteva, and Syngenta control most of the seed market; Mosaic, Nutrien, and CF Industries lead in fertilizers. Durbin asked Dr. Diana Moss from the Progressive Policy Institute whether federal agencies should have done more to block these mergers. Dr. Moss stated that such consolidation has hurt farmers by causing supply chain bottlenecks and reducing stability.
Durbin advocated for increased federal investment in agricultural research amid declining government funding over recent decades while noting increased research spending by China. "Since the 1930s, U.S. government-funded agriculture research has directly helped to boost our farm output by 170 percent.Today, most agriculture research in the U.S. is funded by large private-sector corporations, not the government. Agriculture research funded by the U.S. government has plummeted in the past 30 years, while Chinese government investment in agriculture research has risen eight times, surpassing the U.S. 10 years ago. Today, China is the world’s biggest funder of government-funded farm research," Durbin said.
He also criticized proposed cuts to programs like those at University of Illinois’s Soybean Germplasm Bank: "The Trump Administration and the ‘DOGE cowboys’ want the USDA to close and consolidate a federally-funded laboratory at the University of Illinois—the Soybean Germplasm Collection—which is a genetic seed bank whose scientists, since the 1940s, have cured soybean diseases, improved soybean yields, and developed new varieties and uses... If this lab and its resources are closed or diminished... Any guess where it is? China," he said.
In discussion with John Latham of Latham Quality Inc., Durbin emphasized how public investment supports innovation for businesses selling high-quality seeds: "Mr. Latham, that kind of federal research has to be part of your calculation as well when you talk about innovation." Latham agreed that supporting university-based agricultural research helps American competitiveness.
Video footage from Durbin’s questioning during this hearing is available online.
