The University of Illinois Farm Policy News says Iowa farmers told officials that they should block the sale of the Iowa Fertilizer Company to Koch Industries. The sale is worth 3.6 billion dollars.
Farmers attending the Iowa Farmers Union’s listening session told Lina Khan, the Federal Trade Commission Chair, that consolidation is already squeezing their slim profit margins. The plant located in southeast Iowa received approximately $45 million in local, state, and federal economic development incentives and tax benefits over a decade ago to encourage the plant’s construction. Farmers point out that the acquisition would be the latest in a series of mergers and consolidations that have limited the number of companies they can purchase farm supplies and equipment from and sell livestock and crops.
Four companies account for 75 percent of the nation’s supply of nitrogen. Khan didn’t say whether the FTC is investigating the Iowa Fertilizer Company sale.