The Ag E-Commerce Drama

The battle at the intersection of ag retail and e-commerce has been heating up. And now it’s boiling over into the courts. In early January, an Illinois farm family filed suit against a ‘who’s who’ of crop input manufacturers, distributors, and retailers claiming collusion. Those in the hot seat include Bayer, Winfield, CHS, Nutrien, and many other notable farm input giants. The key claim: The ag defendants banded together and boycotted online sales platforms, like Farmers Business Network, to avoid price transparency and lock in high prices with cozy profit margins. Where this goes: E-commerce drama and the ag input stratosphere are old pals. Time will tell where this most recent litigation will land.