Chemical Rebates Altering the Business

The merger of DuPont® and Dow® into the new Corteva™ company certainly created a deep portfolio of products from a chemical and seed standpoint as well as the recently completed Monsanto® and Bayer® acquisition that now is just Bayer. 

Deepening their portfolios allowed these companies to better package a complete, season-long crop protection and seed offering at the farm gate as well as provide additional risk protections and financing options for customers. This shift has also resulted in some substantial financial rewards for using these complete product lines in the form of Corteva™ Cash which started in 2019 and the new Bayer® PLUS being launched in 2020. 

For some farmers, this package, rewarding the use of products, will result in significant input savings as well as a solid agronomic package. In particular, farmers that are planting flagship seed brands, such as Pioneer® and DEKALB®, will have an advantage that could make these programs the obvious choice. Even without the seed brand tie, there could still be some savings for you, depending on your current crop protection program. These savings could be large enough to take a look back at a branded Corteva™ or Bayer® product offering if you have moved away from them, even compared to less-expensive generic products. In addition, due to certain generic products being produced in China that are impacted by recent tariffs, some of these domestic products may simply be a better value for your farm. 

FCS has a long history of carrying a deep brand name product portfolio, accessing all suppliers in the industry to make sure that we can provide the best agronomic and economic recommendation for each farm. We also participate with these new supplier programs that have been launched, such as Corteva™ Cash and the new Bayer® PLUS. FCS has also been working hard to provide additional options for our customers who don’t want as high of a service level or brand name benefits from the Coop. 

As always, we would certainly recommend that you make crop protection and seed choices that fit your farm and focus on using the best integrated pest management strategy (as opposed to making decisions simply on supplier programs). However, with all of the recent changes in the chemical industry, make sure to take a hard look at all of these new options when making your 2020 decisions.