Monsanto Draws Antitrust Scrutiny: Regulators Offer Competitors, Farmers and Activists a Platform to Gripe About Crop Biotech Giant »

“Crop biotechnology giant Monsanto Co. has the most at stake in the first of an unprecedented series of public meetings that the antitrust wing of the Justice Department is holding across the Farm Belt.

In January, the Justice Department launched a formal antitrust investigation of the St. Louis company’s handling of the most widely planted genetically modified crop in the U.S., a herbicide-immune soybean.

Reuters

Monsanto says competition is healthy in agriculture. Above, a Monsanto researcher in Missouri last fall.

Now, Justice’s tight-lipped antitrust division is taking the unusual step of inviting competitors, farmers, politicians and activists to air any gripes about Monsanto—and to suggest ways to limit the company’s reach before a high-profile audience.