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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Trebuchet MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS";font-weight:bold'><a
href="http://triplecrisis.com/agribusiness-and-the-food-crisis-a-new-thrust-at-anti-trust/">Agribusiness
and the Food Crisis: A new thrust at anti-trust</a></span></font></b><font
size=2 face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><br>
Timothy A. Wise<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><font size=2 color=black
face="Trebuchet MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Trebuchet MS"'><br>
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. <br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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. <br>
<br>
This month, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) launched an unprecedented
process to consider doing just that. In <st1:City w:st="on">Ankeny</st1:City>, <st1:State
w:st="on">Iowa</st1:State>, 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 <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place> agriculture. Convened jointly
by the <a href="http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/workshops/ag2010/agenda.htm"
moz-do-not-send=true>DOJ and the U.S. Department of Agriculture</a>, the
session took on Monsanto and the seed conglomerates, which are among the most
concentrated sectors in the industry. …<br>
<br>
<i><span style='font-style:italic'><a
href="http://triplecrisis.com/agribusiness-and-the-food-crisis-a-new-thrust-at-anti-trust/"
moz-do-not-send=true>Read the full post.</a></span></i><br>
<br>
Read more on GDAE’s research <a
href="http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/USAgPolicy.html"
moz-do-not-send=true>“Beyond Agricultural Subsidies”</a><br>
Read more on GDAE’s <a
href="http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/policy_research/globalization.html"
moz-do-not-send=true>Globalization and Sustainable Development Program</a><br>
Follow us on <a
href="http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=GDAE&init=quick#%21/pages/Globalization-and-Sustainable-Development-Program-GDAE/217703808077?ref=search&sid=1217610004.3217052127..1"
moz-do-not-send=true>Facebook</a><br>
Read Wise and others on the <a href="http://www.triplecrisis.com/"
moz-do-not-send=true>Triple Crisis Blog</a><br>
<br>
<br>
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