Ag is allied in defending crop protection tools

One year ago, a coalition of agricultural groups, led by crop science giant Bayer, formed the Modern Ag Alliance. You may not have heard about the alliance when it launched last April, but you more than likely have now. A recent onslaught of billboards, TV commercials, radio spots, digital ads, social media posts, op-ed pieces and presentations at producer meetings have popped up all over farm country, especially in Missouri, where Bayer’s crop science division is headquartered outside St. Louis. 

 The main purpose of the group, which now includes more than 95 different organizations across the U.S., is to advocate for legislative protection for agricultural chemicals, glyphosate in particular.

Bayer makes no secret of being the driving force—and the dollars—behind the campaign. The company certainly has a vested interest in protecting glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, which Bayer acquired when it took over Monsanto in 2018 along with liability for claims that the chemical causes cancer. Bayer disputes those claims, and the Environmental Protection Agency continues to label glyphosate as noncarcinogenic. Nevertheless, Bayer faces tens of thousands of lawsuits and billions of dollars in settlements. 

The Modern Ag Alliance is pushing for laws to help stop this litigation, which Bayer says is largely an attack by anti-agriculture activists and trial attorneys. The Missouri legislature is currently considering such a bill, which would make a chemical’s label “sufficient to satisfy any requirement for warning.” In other words, companies couldn’t be sued if the EPA-approved label says their product isn’t proven to cause cancer. In 2024, similar legislation failed. This year, the bill, HB 544, passed the Missouri House of Representatives and is now in the Senate. Similar bills have been introduced in at least nine other states.

Growers need some protections for essential chemicals that allow them to use advanced technology, implement conservation practices, and grow more with fewer acres and inputs.

At the recent Commodity Classic, Martha Smith, Bayer’s head of stakeholder affairs, told me the company could stop making Roundup entirely due to rising lawsuits. As part of a Modern Ag Alliance panel, Missouri Corn Growers Director Brian Willott also warned, “If [the litigation industry] can do this to glyphosate, they can do it to anything.”

Admittedly, knowing that Bayer backs the alliance—and pending legislation—is fuel for criticism, but I also know that growers need some protections for essential chemicals that allow them to use advanced technology, implement conservation practices, and grow more with fewer acres and inputs. That’s why MFA is a partner in the Modern Ag Alliance through our membership in Mo-Ag (Missouri Agribusiness Association) along with the Show-Me State’s major commodity groups, including Missouri Soybeans, Missouri Corn, Missouri Beef and Missouri Pork associations. 

I enourage you to stay informed about the progress of Missouri’s crop protection bill this legislative session, and reach out to your elected officials if you want to share your support. In the meantime, I’m sure you’ll have no trouble keeping an eye out for Modern Ag Alliance’s presence. It’s everywhere.    

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