Visualizing Consolidation in the Global Seed Industry: 1996–2008
Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies, Michigan State University, 316 Natural Resources, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Sustainability 2009, 1(4), 1266-1287; https://doi.org/10.3390/su1041266
Received: 28 October 2009 / Accepted: 4 December 2009 / Published: 8 December 2009
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Renewable Agriculture)
The commercial seed industry has undergone tremendous consolidation in the last 40 years as transnational corporations entered this agricultural sector, and acquired or merged with competing firms. This trend is associated with impacts that constrain the opportunities for renewable agriculture, such as reductions in seed lines and a declining prevalence of seed saving. To better characterize the current structure of the industry, ownership changes from 1996 to 2008 are represented visually with information graphics. Since the commercialization of transgenic crops in the mid-1990s, the sale of seeds has become dominated globally by Monsanto, DuPont and Syngenta. In addition, the largest firms are increasingly networked through agreements to cross-license transgenic seed traits.
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Keywords:
seed industry; consolidation; concentration; oligopoly; information graphics
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License
MDPI and ACS Style
Howard, P.H. Visualizing Consolidation in the Global Seed Industry: 1996–2008. Sustainability 2009, 1, 1266-1287.
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