# Bayer-Monsanto Merger



## OneFineAcre (Sep 15, 2016)

A little light reading

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/15/business/dealbook/monsanto-bayer-deal.html


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## NH homesteader (Sep 15, 2016)

I've been watching this develop for a little while now.  Nice huh


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## Baymule (Sep 15, 2016)

“I understand how companies need to get bigger in order to be competitive,” she said. “As we are in a low part of the cycle, anything that might have a chance of reducing our input prices would be great.”

That really struck me. Reduce input? Then _save your own seed and stop spending $ on the Devils pantry of deadly chemicals. _I am reading a book by
Charles Walters called Weeds - Control Without Poisons and it is fascinating. I recognize many of the weeds he says grow because of low calcium and various other minerals. When the mineral balance and humus is balanced, many weeds will not germinate. Insect attack is reduced because the plants are healthy. Duh.

http://www.acresusa.com/weeds-control-without-poisons


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## Bossroo (Sep 16, 2016)

I guess this Walters guy done his own research in his own fertile mind.


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## babsbag (Sep 16, 2016)

Oh great, now we will be able to buy systemic insecticides that kill weeds too. 

On a serious note though, Monsanto does a lot of research in the bee industry and they are on the brink of releasing a way to "poison" the Varroa mite with its own DNA. When this goes public it should be a huge help in the bee and honey world.  I realize that Monsanto may be doing this to look good as they kill millions of bees with GMO crops (if they do) but it is nice to have a big company working on an unrelenting problem. They have a very big program dedicated to the bees.


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## OneFineAcre (Sep 16, 2016)

This link was at the top when I opened BYH

https://www.advancingtogether.com/en/home/


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## NH homesteader (Sep 16, 2016)

So...  @OneFineAcre did you want to share your thoughts?


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## OneFineAcre (Sep 16, 2016)

NH homesteader said:


> So...  @OneFineAcre did you want to share your thoughts?



Nope


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## NH homesteader (Sep 16, 2016)

Lol.  I intentionally didn't post this news on here because I don't want  to go there. I just knew it would eventually call for a moderator. 

So.  I'll zip it.


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## greybeard (Sep 16, 2016)

OneFineAcre said:


> This link was at the top when I opened BYH
> 
> https://www.advancingtogether.com/en/home/


Not unusual at all for any company to ask for proxy votes, on any kind of venture or even at an annual stockholder's meeting. I've received a couple dozen such requests for my vote by proxy over the years from different companies --It happens all the time. 

As far as the merger itself, any and all of the things they may do as a M&A entity would most take place as separate companies as well. The buy by Bayer would probably cut back on their own R&D because they will have less $$ to play around with after the multi billion $ purchase. SEC and other regulatory agencies will still have to approve the deal, especially since Bayer is a foreign (German) company.


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## OneFineAcre (Sep 16, 2016)

greybeard said:


> Not unusual at all for any company to ask for proxy votes, on any kind of venture or even at an annual stockholder's meeting. I've received a couple dozen such requests for my vote by proxy over the years from different companies --It happens all the time.
> 
> As far as the merger itself, any and all of the things they may do as a M&A entity would most take place as separate companies as well. The buy by Bayer would probably cut back on their own R&D because they will have less $$ to play around with after the multi billion $ purchase. SEC and other regulatory agencies will still have to approve the deal, especially since Bayer is a foreign (German) company.



Yes I'm familiar with proxy solicitations.

Just thought it was interesting that it was scrolling across Back Yard Herds since there are probably not to many Monsanto and Bayer stock holders blogging here.

My thoughts as to the merger itself is that directors and management should do what is in the best interest of their shareholders.

I work for a bank that has been quite active in M&A ourselves recently thanks to Dodd-Frank

We have bought 3 regional banks in the last 2 years along with 80 branches from Citibank in TX.


The smaller banks can't make the investments to meet the new regulations and still give a decent return to their shareholders.

Larger banks like my employer need to increase revenue through acquisitions to gain the economy of scale to cover our investments and offer a return to our shareholders.


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## NH homesteader (Sep 16, 2016)

Yes but I also posted somewhere that I need new windows and right now there is an ad for storm windows on my home page. So...  The real question is how does the internet know what we are talking about?


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## OneFineAcre (Sep 16, 2016)

NH homesteader said:


> Yes but I also posted somewhere that I need new windows and right now there is an ad for storm windows on my home page. So...  The real question is how does the internet know what we are talking about?



good question


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## babsbag (Sep 16, 2016)

cookies and tags


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## greybeard (Sep 16, 2016)

OneFineAcre said:


> good question


Simple answer. History and stored session cookies. On a PC or Laptop and maybe even on iPhones, watch your lower left area of your browser's tab.
You can watch as little programs such as as 'doubleclick', 'Google APIs', (shows up as apis) - 'Google adsense', and others load even as the web page itself loads. Most people only see the "waiting for bakyardherds"..thing, but if you pay close attention, you will see other things load as well.
Why?They are all part of Google, the largest ad service on the internet, and they attempt to place ads that each unique user might find attractive. IOW, the ads one person sees, will be different than the ads another sees, and this is based on previous searches and previous web pages visited. All that history is stored as 'session cookies'. Some session cookies help the website identify you so you don't have to log on every single time you open up BYH, other cookies identify your interests. You agreed to this when you did the 'I agree" part of the 'terms of service' portion of registering on any forum and upon any browser installation. (read the fine print) This is all spelled out in BYH's page regarding cookies. ***  If you have cleared out all cache, internet history and deleted all cookies, the ads you see will just be random. The circled part lower left in the image below is an example of one of these apps that helps track where you have been--you have to look fast to see it when you first open BYH and other web pages.





Clearing history..
Sometimes this will help. In Chrome, go to settings/clear browsing data. That gets rid of some of the store crap, but note what it says down in the red box.....Google is not to be so easily denied--they make lots of money from companies wanting you to see their ads.



To get rid of everything (almost) you will need to use a 3rd party service--most anti virus programs have one included.  Persistent cookies, that store info your browser needs to operate, and load web pages themselves, as well as personalizations you have intentionally chosen (font/font size/color/zoom aspect etc) are not deleted.
At any given time, there are also bots running around even the most legit of websites. This particular website usually does not show which bots are skulking about, but it does tell ya how many, but many do and you will see the bots identified.

From a different website:
(I have intentionally removed all the registered 'human' users leaving only the bots because each username was also a profile link)


> _
> *WHO IS ONLINE*
> In total there are *86* users online :: 12 registered, 2 hidden and 72 guests (based on users active over the past 5 minutes)
> Most users ever online was *489* on Fri May 25, 2012 4:30 am
> ...



***http://www.backyardherds.com/help/cookies

All of this, or at least a great deal of it helps track your shopping (and other) interests, and dictates what kind of ads show up for each of you.
Ad blockers can help, as can good cookie managers.


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## babsbag (Sep 16, 2016)

That was a simple answer???    Mine was shorter...cookies and tags.  But you did a great job of explaining how it all works; many people think their computer is magically the way it pulls up custom ads for them. While I don't need it, it is certainly better than annoying content that I have NO interest in.  While I was shopping for a dress to wear to my son's wedding I got many ads for dresses...wedding is over, can we can go back to tractors and tools? Please, no more dresses. I should delete the cookies and see what I get.


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## greybeard (Sep 20, 2016)

NH homesteader said:


> Lol.  I intentionally didn't post this news on here because I don't want  to go there. I just knew it would eventually call for a moderator.
> 
> So.  I'll zip it.


How so? Open discussion of any event that may (or may not) have an impact on our agricultural/livestock practices would seem to be a natural progression on any board such as this--why would a moderator need to be called? There's no rule here (AFAIK) preventing or even discouraging discussion of current events as long as they avoid politics & religion. 
Case in point, Nifty's VFD thread regarding the  new govt rules regarding antibiotic use. It definitely SHOULD be here at BYH, just as it is on every  ag forum I'm on even tho it "could" be somewhat narrowly defined as  politics since it was implemented by a govt agency. A big chem co merger is no less or more important or controversial, tho my personal view is that each of the 2 components of the Monsanto/Bayer merger would do the same things, whether as individual companies or part of a bigger single entity.


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## NH homesteader (Sep 20, 2016)

I wasn't saying it was against the rules. I am very opinionated on the matter and didn't want  to go there when some people are very opinionated in the opposite direction. 
Being a newbie here I try to avoid hot topics. I have been criticized for my views on this subject in the past.


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## greybeard (Sep 20, 2016)

Ah--ok. I've been criticized lots in my lifetime. I don't let it bother me--I was (deservedly) chewed out eyeball to eyeball by General Chapman, the Commandant of the Marine Corps (4 star general) in November 1971 in front of the whole base and several hundred civilian guests and spectators--everything since then pales in comparison, and is just water off my back. The man knew his business for sure.


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## Mike CHS (Sep 20, 2016)

greybeard - going off track for a minute - your post reminded me of when I was a young 18 year old sailor taking a break during a working party. Admiral Hyman Rickover walked by our group and we got a good several minutes worth of butt chewing for failure to show respect.  The old geezer was in plain blue overalls with no insignia so we had to ask the Senior Chief in charge of us to explain who he was and why we got chewed out.


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## NH homesteader (Sep 20, 2016)

Ha! I suppose you can  handle a lot more after being chewed out like that.  My husband went to military school for high school.  To "keep him out of trouble".  It made him never want to join  the military!


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## OneFineAcre (Sep 21, 2016)

http://growingnorthcarolina.com/news/2016/09/american-farm-bureau-urges-caution-ag-mergers/


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## greybeard (Sep 21, 2016)

OneFineAcre said:


> http://growingnorthcarolina.com/news/2016/09/american-farm-bureau-urges-caution-ag-mergers/



Well--ain't skeered--lets discuss it.
 Interesting albeit a very short article that tells us what most of us already know--due diligence required--as in all things.
I really don't see this M/A affecting many if any of us here at BYH. People love to hate Monsanto, and I do find it somewhat of a contradiction that some seem to be opposed to this merger, or acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer. Everyone is up in arms about Monsanto and their copyrights on seeds and their pretty strict legal history regarding GMO seeds. If anything, there is a possibility that there will be fewer of Monsanto's products available over all, that is, anything that competes with Bayer might disappear off the shelf. No sense in a making a redundant product, tho Bayer is not heavily into seed gmo work, but is very much the world's largest producer of coatings on any number of seeds. So I'm surprised more people who hate Monsanto aren't jumping up and down with glee at the prospect of fewer products available over all. Currently, Monsanto uses Bayer products on many of their seed products. Not much will change with that, if anything at all--other than a label change. On the other hand, Monsanto's products will probably increase in the EU and other places as a result of this M/A, but for us here in the Western Hemisphere, not much of a ripple in the water.

Jobs tho and taxes, may be a different story. Fodder for a separate reply I suppose.


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## NH homesteader (Sep 21, 2016)

Well bigger typically means more power.  More money,  more influence.  Big corporations getting bigger causes anxiety! Bayer being primarily in the health care field,  merging with Monsanto also sounds pretty awful! That being said,  I had no idea what Bayer was already doing in agriculture. I looked at their website the other day and realized they were already doing most of what Monsanto does.  Eek I had no idea! 

So...  If their products get more expensive the silver lining (for me anyway)  is maybe that will help the organic industry!


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## greybeard (Sep 21, 2016)

NH homesteader said:


> Well bigger typically means more power.  More money,  more influence.  Big corporations getting bigger causes anxiety! Bayer being primarily in the health care field,  merging with Monsanto also sounds pretty awful! That being said,  I had no idea what Bayer was already doing in agriculture. I looked at their website the other day and realized they were already doing most of what Monsanto does.  Eek I had no idea!
> 
> So...  If their products get more expensive the silver lining (for me anyway)  is maybe that will help the organic industry!


This is one of many reasons it helps to have real and open discussions about anything of this nature. We each become more informed--myself not the least.
I have no real dog in this fight, don't own any Monsanto or bayer stock, don't instinctively seek out either of their brand name products and other than Advantage (flea control) and Bayer 81 mg Aspirin I can't say I have ever knowingly bought any Bayer products. Same with Monsanto--I just don't specifically have a need for any of their brand name proucts.

If I were to have a specific opposition to the merger, it would simply be on the grounds of 'the selling of America'. Seen too much of it over my lifetime. Citgo bought by Venezuela--Budwieser sold to European company InBev--Motorola to China's Lenovo-Burger King sold to 3G Capitol of Brazil-7-11 sold to a Japanese Co--General Electric was sold to Qingdao Hair Company of China-Gerber, Carnation, and Ralston Purina sold to a Swiss Company (Nestle) and the big refineries on the Gulf Coast being bought and controlled (50% interest ) to Saudi Aramco--Saudi Arabia.
But, I do admit, all of those mergers/sales have had little to no effect on their product's availability. 

It works both ways, this M/A thing. I watched one of the finest airlines in the country go out of business, when deregulation of the airline sector (as well as higher fuel prices) took place, and smaller regional airlines ate into Braniff International's routes. After 54 years, and unable to put together a merger or buyer, they went out of business in 1982. I had flown on their planes many times thru the late 60s and all thru the 70s.


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