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Harvest Public Media is a reporting collaboration focused on issues of food, fuel and field. Based at KCUR in Kansas City, Missouri, Harvest covers agriculture-related topics through a network of reporters and partner stations throughout the Midwest.

Judiciary Committee To Hold Hearings On Ag Mergers

Wikipedia
U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley

The U.S. Senate judiciary committee wants to examine proposed mergers among agricultural chemical and seed companies.

Chinese chemical giant ChemChina is in talks to buy Syngenta. Dow and DuPont are hoping to combine. Among the few remaining large companies, several possible deals involving Monsanto have emerged. All of this has lead regulators and lawmakers to worry about decreased competition and higher prices for farmers.

Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley says the judiciary committee will hold hearings to add oversight to Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission reviews.

"The hearing will focus on the transactions currently being reviewed by antitrust regulators and the current trend in the consolidation of the seed and chemical industries," Grassley says.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the US cleared ChemChina’s bid for Syngenta of national security concerns earlier this week.

Amy Mayer is a reporter based in Ames. She covers agriculture and is part of the Harvest Public Media collaboration. Amy worked as an independent producer for many years and also previously had stints as weekend news host and reporter at WFCR in Amherst, Massachusetts and as a reporter and host/producer of a weekly call-in health show at KUAC in Fairbanks, Alaska. Amy’s work has earned awards from SPJ, the Alaska Press Club and the Massachusetts/Rhode Island AP. Her stories have aired on NPR news programs such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition and on Only A Game, Marketplace and Living on Earth. She produced the 2011 documentary Peace Corps Voices, which aired in over 160 communities across the country and has written for The New York Times, Boston Globe, Real Simple and other print outlets. Amy served on the board of directors of the Association of Independents in Radio from 2008-2015.