Major agriculture companies announced on Thursday, February 6, they would cooperate with a Canadian Competition Bureau antitrust probe sparked by allegations that certain businesses tried to block an online farm-supply startup from operating in Western Canada, reported Reuters.
The Canadian regulator confirmed earlier Thursday that an inquiry was underway, but did not cite the companies being investigated.
Court documents filed on January 30 in Canadian federal court show Bayer, Corteva, and BASF were among those under scrutiny following a complaint from California-based online retailer Farmers Business Network (FBN).
Farm-supply wholesalers, including Cargill and Univar Solutions are also being probed, the documents showed, confirming an earlier Wall Street Journal report.
The Competition Bureau told the federal court it was seeking records and communications from the seed, pesticide, and wholesaling companies which are alleged to have stopped supplying FBN’s newly acquired Canadian business in 2018. The bureau also stated it appeared some company officials might have urged farmers and others in the industry not to do business with FBN.
Full Content: Reuters
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