Competition in the vegetable seed market has stepped up a pace with Monsanto’s acquisition of De Ruiter Seeds. Monsanto, will add the Dutch specialist in green house crops to its already burgeoning war chest of vegetable seed brands – derived from the acquisition of Seminis back in 2005. Syngenta, the other big fish in this particular pond is also rapidly developing with their acquisition of Zeraim Gedera Ltd., an Israeli company that concentrates on top-quality segments in six high-value crops: tomato, sweet pepper, watermelon, melon, squash and cucumber.