World's top 10 seed companies | GRID-Arendal (2024)

FAQs

What are the big 4 seed companies? ›

There has been ongoing consolidation and concentration of the U.S. agriculture industry in recent decades. In 2015, six firms controlled the majority of the U.S. crop seed and agricultural chemical markets. Today, just four firms — Bayer, Corteva, ChemChina's Syngenta Group, and BASF — dominate those markets.

#1 Seed company : Bayer

Bayer is the largest and most diversified seed company in the world, with a strong presence in corn, soybean, cotton, vegetable, and specialty crops. Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018, which gave it access to the leading biotechnology and digital farming platforms.

In 2010 the Gates Foundation Trust invested about $23 million in Monsanto, the genetically modified seed and chemical company, though it sold its shares the next year following outcry from environmental groups.

Atlee Burpee & Co. Burpee is NOT owned by Monsanto. We do NOT sell GMO seed, never have in the past, and will not sell it in the future.

Syngenta, which is headquartered in Switzerland, is owned by a Chinese parent company called ChemChina.

Landreth Seed Co., founded in Philadelphia in 1784, is the oldest seed company in America. When David Landreth started his company, he was not focused on the heirloom seeds that the company is known for today. Instead, he sought to protect seeds and ensure they remained true to their mother plant.

The top 3 companies (Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta) together account for $10,282 million, or 47% of the worldwide proprietary seed market.

Monsanto and Dupont/Pioneer lead the way with over 50% of seed sales in the world. All of the top ten companies are located in the U.S.A, Japan or Europe.

Who owns the most seeds in the world? ›

BASF, Bayer/Monsanto, ChemChina-Syngenta, and Corteva Agriscience are the four big corporations that currently own the rights to over two thirds of the world's seed and pesticide sales.

The evolutionary paths of four major seed companies— Pioneer/Dupont, Novartis/Syngenta, Monsanto, and Advanta Seed Group—provide some insight into the modern structure of the seed industry (figs. A-1-A-4).

Monsanto's roles in agricultural changes, biotechnology products, lobbying of government agencies, and roots as a chemical company have resulted in controversies.

Monsanto does sue farmers who use its seeds without licensing agreements. Arguably, the most famous of these cases was against Canadian farmer Percy Schmeiser, whose story was the focus of the conspiracy-theory-laden documentary “David versus Monsanto”.

The number one seed, meaning the winningest team, from each conference, gets not only an automatic playoff berth, but the coveted position of skipping the first round entirely and sitting pretty in the second round, just waiting for their first opponent.

Two companies accounted for more than half of corn, soybean, and cotton seed sales in 2018–20. Two companies—Corteva and Bayer—provided more than half the U.S. retail seed sales of corn, soybeans, and cotton in 2018–20, the most recent period for which estimates are available.

BASF, Bayer/Monsanto, ChemChina-Syngenta, and Corteva Agriscience are the four big corporations that currently own the rights to over two thirds of the world's seed and pesticide sales.

In 2005, it finalized the purchase of Seminis Inc, a leading global vegetable and fruit seed company, for $1.4 billion. This made it the world's largest conventional seed company. In 1999, Monsanto sold off NutraSweet Co.