(Dave Bedard photo)

Bayer sweetens Monsanto bid as talks enter final stretch

Reuters — German pharmaceutical and crops manufacturer Bayer said on Monday that its negotiations with Monsanto had advanced, and that it was now willing to offer more than US$65 billion to acquire the world’s largest seeds company. Bayer’s announcement came as the gap in price expectations between the two companies has narrowed significantly, although important […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Agrium’s CPS agrees to shed four Alberta retail sites

Agrium’s Crop Production Services (CPS) arm will need to sell four ag retail sites in eastern Alberta to close on its deal to buy an independent western Prairie retail chain. The federal Competition Bureau on Thursday announced an agreement with CPS dealing with the company’s planned purchase of Andrukow Group Solutions Inc. which operates 18 […] Read more



(Photo courtesy Agrium)

Fertilizer merger faces easier approval at home than in U.S.

Toronto/Washington | Reuters — Canada’s PotashCorp and Agrium are more likely to win approval for a potential merger in Canada than in the U.S., but U.S. rejection of the deal would scuttle it globally, competition lawyers said. Saskatoon-based PotashCorp and Calgary’s Agrium confirmed Tuesday they were in preliminary merger talks, toward a deal that would […] Read more



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PotashCorp, Agrium merger would send farmers to regulators

Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — North American farmers will pressure regulators to protect their negotiating leverage with fertilizer suppliers if PotashCorp and Agrium agree to merge, major farm groups said on Wednesday. The potential deal revealed on Tuesday would combine the world’s largest fertilizer producer by capacity, with the continent’s biggest network of farm retail dealers, […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Agrium, PotashCorp in merger talks

Canadian fertilizer giants Agrium and PotashCorp confirmed Tuesday they’re in “preliminary discussions” toward a possible merger-of-equals. Calgary-based Agrium and Saskatoon-based PotashCorp emphasized in separate statements Tuesday that no decision has yet been made on whether to go ahead with such a merger and no agreement has yet been reached. “There can be no assurance that […] Read more

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Viterra books lower first-half revenues for Glencore

“Average” crops and lower prices on the Prairies in the first half of 2016 led to results “substantially below” those in the year-earlier period for Viterra’s Canadian operations. Viterra’s owner, Swiss commodity mining/marketing firm Glencore, on Wednesday reported a nine per cent drop in revenues across its global agricultural products business, from $10.74 billion in […] Read more


(Dave Bedard photo)

Saskatchewan adds new secretary for farm irrigation

A rookie MLA in the Saskatchewan Party caucus has been promoted to a legislative secretary post with responsibility for expansion of the province’s farm irrigation systems. Premier Brad Wall on Tuesday named Warren Kaeding, the MLA for Melville-Saltcoats since April, as legislative secretary to the minister of agriculture, for irrigation expansion. Kaeding was previously a […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

U.S. Senate judiciary committee to hold hearing on ag chem deals

Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Senate judiciary committee will hold a hearing in late September to discuss the mergers of Dow Chemical and Dupont as well as ChemChina’s purchase of Syngenta, committee chair Charles Grassley said in a statement Tuesday. Grassley, a Republican from the farm state of Iowa, has already expressed concern that […] Read more