U.S. lawmakers expressed concern on Tuesday over a wave of mergers among companies that sell farmers their seeds, herbicides and insecticides, worrying that the deals could lead to higher prices and less innovation at a time of dropping farm incomes.

 

Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, said the proposed mergers of Dow and DuPont, Bayer and Monsanto and Syngenta and ChemChina had potential consequences which were "troubling, in fact alarming."

 

Executives at the five companies defended their mergers at a hearing of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee but Blumenthal was one of several senators who were unconvinced.

 

"The stakes are very high here. I am worried about consolidation in this area of our economy and other areas as well," said Blumenthal, pressing executives from Bayer and Monsanto to acknowledge that their herbicides Liberty and Roundup, respectively, were competitors.

 

Click Here to read more.