In a move to reduce behavior that drives up food prices, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is teaming up with state attorneys general to ban anti-competitive practices in the agricultural industry. Via Investopedia:
The USDA said it will work with the 31 states and the District of Columbia to target market structures that it says raise prices and limit choices for consumers and producers.
By "market structures," I think they actually mean "monopoly practices," but we mustn't spook the markets!
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the partnership would address corporate consolidation, especially focusing on unfair competition and increased prices in food, retail and meat and poultry processing. The initiative is designed to help increase the assessment abilities of the attorneys general to bring action in these areas.
“By placing necessary resources where they are needed most and helping states identify and address anticompetitive and anti-consumer behavior, in partnership with federal authorities, through these cooperative agreements we can ensure a more robust and competitive agricultural sector," Vilsack said in a written statement.
They're dancing around the topic, but the fact that they're partnering with state Attorneys General signals anti-monopoly prosecutions coming down the pike.
Meanwhile, the Guardian last week looked at the handful of powerful companies that control the majority of grocery items bought regularly by ordinary Americans. In other words, consumer "choice" is an illusion:
In fact, a few powerful transnational companies dominate every link of the food supply chain: from seeds and fertilizers to slaughterhouses and supermarkets to cereals and beers.
The size, power and profits of these mega companies have expanded thanks to political lobbying and weak regulation which enabled a wave of unchecked mergers and acquisitions. This matters because the size and influence of these mega-companies enables them to largely dictate what America’s 2 million farmers grow and how much they are paid, as well as what consumers eat and how much our groceries cost.
It also means those who harvest, pack and sell us our food have the least power: at least half of the 10 lowest-paid jobs are in the food industry. Farms and meat processing plants are among the most dangerous and exploitative workplaces in the country.
Overall, only 15 cents of every dollar we spend in the supermarket goes to farmers. The rest goes to processing and marketing our food.
