The Brazilian Association of Soya Producers (Aprosoja Brasil) has created a hotline for farmer practice reports from the German company Bayer SA, which could potentially be anti-competitive.

Aprosoja Brasil, calling the initiative an “awareness-raising campaign,” seeks to encourage farmers to report potential unfair seed, agrochemicals, and genetic technologies for seed sales by Bayer or its subsidiary Monsanto.

The statement said that Aprosoja Brasil was allowed to participate as a third party in the Brazilian antitrust regulator, an investigation by the Governing Body for Economic Defense of Brazil (Cade), launched during the takeover of Bayer Monsanto. This merger was announced in September 2016 and closed in February 2018 in Brazil.

In turn, Bayer said that he strictly abides by all the terms of the agreement with Cade to approve his acquisition of Monsanto. According to Bayer, compliance is monitored by an international trustee appointed by the Governing Body for Economic Defense of Brazil.

Aprosoja Brasil stated that the Governing Body approved a deal with several conditions aimed at ensuring fair competition and the Association, as a third party in the process, is responsible for overseeing the activities of the company over the next five years.

The Governing Body for Economic Defense of Brazil has confirmed the ongoing investigation into Bayer and Monsanto's alleged unfair practices in the seed and transgene market.