每年12月号 农用化学品国际 让我们有时间退后一步，反思全球作物投入行业的状况。今年，一些主题很熟悉，例如南美洲和中美洲的重要性，以及东欧和独联体国家的希望（而融资和安全仍然是障碍）。可持续性、有机生产和生物燃料等较新的话题也正在兴起。
但一如既往，一个共同的主题反复出现：行业的整合、收购和发展。这一趋势表明行业正在发生转变。
Consolidation — the evolution of the industry — may be evolving itself. It wasn’t so long ago that we went through what was commonly held to be a sort of Era of Consolidation, when the number of the world’s discovery-based companies was pared down to six through mergers and acquisitions. Following a tumultuous time, things seemed to have stabilized on that level. But consolidation hasn’t stopped; it continues on a tier directly below the multinationals, as companies like those in our Post-Patent Report buy spun-off products, distributors around the world, and other companies to build their already swelling business.
是什么导致了这种变化？ Certainly, there are many factors. The multis seemed to have reached a level of comfortable homeostasis — a position where they are large enough to continue to fund research and development (R&D) despite the cost of discovery and regulatory approvals. Simply put, there is less pressure to consolidate; the companies have achieved balance.
然而，在下一层，仍有效率有待提高 以及有待探索的新市场。在此过程中，他们正在加速行业的总体整合水平：不是从上到下，就像多边形进行转型时那样，而是从头开始，从分销点开始，整合零部件的渠道进入自己的业务。这具有双重效果，既增加了他们的市场准入，又使他们在多个市场的分销更加成熟。
这些公司正在以其他方式实现业务多元化。更多利基产品正在成为他们投资组合的一部分，而种子正在成为他们未来计划的一部分。随着质量的提高，他们的产品范围以及销售这些产品的能力都会增加。他们正在达到自己的平衡水平，尽管仍有待采取措施。
下一个问题是，为什么是现在？ What is it about this point in the history of global agriculture that has created this trend? There are certainly many contributing factors, but one, in particular, has catalyzed this evolution of the industry’s structure.
Digital communication has had more to do with the transformation of the industry than any other factor. This fact was struck home during BCPC when discussing FCI’s company listings with an advertiser.
“Why,” he asked, “Do you bother printing addresses? Phone numbers, e-mail, web sites, that’s all we need.” And even more telling, phone numbers were the least important bits of information.
Compared to a phone call, e-mail offers a number of benefits: no need to worry about time zones, a persisting record of the exchange as it develops, and the ability to send different sorts of files instantly across the world, to name a few. Of course, phone calls and face-to-face meetings are still the best for establishing and maintaining relationships, but e-mail has by far surpassed the telephone’s utility for global communications.
与互联网相结合，这已经收缩了整个世界，而不仅仅是我们的行业。二十年前，亚洲制造商与南美分销商合作的能力还很遥远。今天，这已是家常便饭。
过去因缺乏资金而无法在远离本国市场的地方开展业务的企业现在可以进入一个充满机遇的世界，而且他们正在利用这些机会。世界的连通性带来了行业的连通性，使过去对于小型甚至中型公司来说不可能实现的目标变成了家常便饭。
现在门是开着的。信息更广泛，距离变得毫无意义。如今，率先通过这扇门的创新二线公司正在收获回报。