Homegrown Co-op

“Monsanto Company to Acquire Seminis, Inc., a Leading Vegetable and Fruit Seed Company

Acquisition Expected to Add Near-term Income Growth and Diversity to Monsanto’s Seed Portfolio

ST. LOUIS (Jan. 24, 2005) – Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON) announced today that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire Seminis, Inc., for $1.4 billion in cash and assumed debt… “

The news of Monsanto’s agreement to purchase Seminis has received little attention from the media other than the financial pages and a few seed industry and anti-globalization web sites. But then again, why should it? How many consumers – of food or seed – have even heard of Seminis? And yet, as Seminis spinmeister Gary Koppenjan said, “If you’ve had a salad, you’ve had a Seminis product.”

It is estimated that Seminis controls 40 percent of the U.S. vegetable seed market and 20 percent of the world market—supplying the genetics for 55 percent of the lettuce on U.S. supermarket shelves, 75 percent of the tomatoes, and 85 percent of the peppers, with strong holdings in beans, cucumbers, squash, melons, broccoli, cabbage, spinach and peas. The company’s biggest revenue source comes from tomato and peppers seeds, followed by cucumbers and beans.

http://www.seedalliance.org/Seed_News/SeminisMonsanto/