[CTC] Getting serious about anti-trust in agriculture?

[Citizens Trade Campaign]

Agribusiness
<http://triplecrisis.com/agribusiness-and-the-food-crisis-a-new-thrust-at-an
ti-trust/>  and the Food Crisis: A new thrust at anti-trust
Timothy A. Wise


The food crisis has a new villain: agribusiness. A recent report by Olivier
De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, on
"Agribusiness and the Right to Food" takes a close look at the contribution
of commodity buyers, food processors, and retailers to the food insecurity
now plaguing over one billion people in the world. 

Why agribusiness?  Aren't they driving prices down?  Well, yes and no, and
both are a problem. If they are so big they can exert monopoly control over
key markets, they can raise prices for lack of competition, hurting all food
consumers. And if they have excessive market power over suppliers -
particularly farmers - they can exert monopsony control and force down crop
prices.  That can benefit food consumers if low prices are passed through to
consumers, but monopoly can rear its head again there. In any case, the
price squeeze puts smallholder farmers in a precarious position. That
contributes to the global food crisis because the majority of the world's
hungry are small-scale farmers.

Among De Schutter's recommendations: strengthen anti-trust enforcement
nationally and globally with a particular emphasis on "excessive buyer power
in the agrifood sector," which he considers more worrisome than seller
power. 

This month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launched an unprecedented
process to consider doing just that. In Ankeny, Iowa, 800 farmers jammed a
community college auditorium March 12 for the first of five public hearings
this year on corporate concentration and anti-competitive practices in U.S.
agriculture. Convened jointly by the DOJ and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture <http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/workshops/ag2010/agenda.htm>
, the session took on Monsanto and the seed conglomerates, which are among
the most concentrated sectors in the industry. .

Read the full post.
<http://triplecrisis.com/agribusiness-and-the-food-crisis-a-new-thrust-at-an
ti-trust/> 

Read more on GDAE's research
<http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/USAgPolicy.html> "Beyond
Agricultural Subsidies"
Read more on GDAE's Globalization and Sustainable Development Program
<http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/globalization.html> 
Follow us on Facebook
<http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=GDAE&init=quick#%21/pages/Globalization-a
nd-Sustainable-Development-Program-GDAE/217703808077?ref=search&sid=12176100
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Read Wise and others on the Triple Crisis Blog
<http://www.triplecrisis.com/> 


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