Setting the Stage

When I first read about Corteva splitting up its seed and pesticide businesses, I couldn’t help but dig deeper. What I found shocked me. Corteva carries a market cap of nearly $50 billion. To buy it outright, you’d need not just $50 billion but a hefty premium on top of that — unless you had the cash lying around. And here’s the kicker: Corteva isn’t even the largest player in this field. That’s how quietly massive and profitable the crop protection industry really is. It’s one of those “hidden in plain sight” markets that moves the global economy, but rarely crosses our community’s radar.

The Scale of the Crop Protection Industry

The global crop protection chemicals market was valued at $47.78 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach $66.74 billion by 2030, expanding at a CAGR of nearly 6%. That means almost $20 billion in new market value over the next six years. To put it plainly: there’s a fortune being created here, and it’s happening whether we pay attention or not.

The reach of this industry extends far beyond farms:

• Food & Beverage: Herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides ensure safe yields for everything from apples to soybeans.

• Landscaping & Real Estate: They keep lawns, golf courses, and parks green and presentable.

• Agricultural Sustainability: These products help preserve iconic trees, crops, and gardens while supporting ecosystem balance.

Every bite of food, every backyard cookout, every city park depends on this sector. Crop protection doesn’t just sustain farmers — it sustains the modern economy.

The Barriers to Entry

The reality is blunt: you don’t just wake up one morning and decide to compete with Bayer, Syngenta, or Corteva. These firms have armies of scientists, patent lawyers, and distribution networks that span continents. That’s one reason minority participation in agribusiness has been limited — it feels like an impossible hill to climb.

But here’s where perspective matters. We don’t need to become Bayer to get a stake in this game. Entry points exist — from finance, to education, to policy, to research. The question is whether we’re bold enough to take them. 

Pathways to Participation

1. Finance & Ownership
Black- and minority-owned investment firms like Harlem Capital, Vista Equity, and Ariel Investments are already reshaping what financial ownership looks like. Imagine if they turned their focus toward agribusiness.

• Acquisition Play: Purchasing a division from a larger company, then using that infrastructure to create distribution pipelines aimed at supporting Black farmers, landscapers, and urban growers.

• Syndication Play: Pooling accredited Black investors to launch an independent firm that covers the full stack — land acquisition, R&D, logistics, legal defense, and chemical production.

The model isn’t theoretical. Robert F. Smith and Vista Equity have proven that Black-led firms can control billion-dollar assets. Agribusiness should be next.

2. HBCU-Led Research & Industry Building
Think about the role HBCUs could play, especially those in rural states where agriculture is already central to the economy: Mississippi Valley State, Alcorn State, Lane College, Fort Valley State, and Benedict College.

By creating research hubs and think tanks focused on crop science, pest resistance, and bio-based chemicals, these schools could:

• Generate new jobs and local industries.

• Secure federal grants from USDA and EPA.

• Build intellectual property pipelines that Black communities actually control.

This isn’t just about science. It’s about creating ecosystems of innovation where students, investors, and federal resources intersect.

3. White-Collar Growth & Spillover Benefits
The more students and professionals we push into agribusiness R&D, the more spillover opportunities we create across related fields.

• Finance professionals get involved in agricultural lending, venture capital, and asset management.

• Policy students gain experience in subsidies, trade negotiations, and food security.

• Tech entrepreneurs innovate with drones, AI, and precision spraying technologies.

This is how influence grows: start with one sector, then watch the ripple effects touch law, finance, politics, and tech.

The Strategic Case for Black Participation

Food security isn’t just an economic issue — it’s a matter of survival and sovereignty. If you control the inputs of food production, you control one of the most stable and profitable industries on earth. Crop protection is the kind of business that doesn’t get disrupted by fads or trends. People will always need food.

The opportunity is massive precisely because so few Black-owned firms are in this space. First movers can build lasting economic power. And the moral case runs just as deep: agriculture has historically been a site of exploitation for Black people, from slavery to sharecropping. Reversing that legacy into ownership and innovation is both justice and strategy.

Closing: A Call to Action

Breaking into crop protection won’t be easy. But neither was breaking into Wall Street, Hollywood, or Silicon Valley. And yet, Black leaders found ways to disrupt, invest, and build legacies in those spaces.

The next frontier is agribusiness. Specifically, the chemicals and science that feed the world. It’s time for our community to look past the obvious, and begin claiming a share of the industries that are essential, profitable, and — until now — largely overlooked.

This isn’t just about owning farmland. It’s about owning the future of food itself.