Bayer AG Status?

My opinion is based strictly on how I see them as a farmer.

They have an elite seed/genetic profile. No one comes close. It’s them, Corteva (Pioneer), then everybody else. And most everybody else is buying Bayer and Corteva rejects to develop their seed profiles.

They don’t have the most diverse crop protection profile, but it’s solid. The two biggest problems there is they own Monsanto, therefore they are taking all the Roundup blowback, warranted or not.... They’re genetics are also heavy in the Dicamba tolerant basket. If you haven’t been keeping up, the 9th Circuit Court ruled against the use of Dicamba in-season a couple weeks ago. I panic bought enough dicamba to spray all of this year’s cotton and soybeans and all of next year’s intended cotton and soybeans.

There’s about to be a lot of appealing going on, and they were about to have to re-label it in December anyway. If they don’t get a favorable ruling or a label approval, they’re going to lose some market share on both chemicals and seed. Farms will be looking harder at the competition, but the competition also doesn’t have the capability to possibly supply that demand, so it will be a gradual shift.

They’re data harvesting/logging/whatever platform is top notch also. I really enjoy their data platform. It really helps me analyze a lot of data.

I’m very heavy into Bayer products on our farm. They have 90% of our seed business and we buy plenty of Roundup and their Dicamba to go along with it. We also use their data platform to capture planting and harvest data.

But I don’t know if I’d be a buyer of their stock. They’ve got some hoops to jump through in the next year or so to remain the gold standard.

Again, this is the opinion of someone on the farm, not an experienced investor.