Today, Farm Action published a comprehensive report providing definitive evidence of corporate control over who gets to farm, how they farm, what food gets produced and sold in this country, and how much consumers must pay for it. “Kings Over the Necessaries of Life”: Monopolization and the Elimination of Competition in America’s Agriculture System, written by antitrust attorney Basel Musharbash, details the policy choices and corporate actions that got us here by diving into the history of antimonopoly policy in American agriculture and conducting in-depth investigations into each major sector of today’s agricultural economy. Farm Action will soon host a webinar discussion with Musharbash delving into the research behind this report, with remarks by Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter.
This report is the cornerstone of Farm Action’s first-of-its-kind Agriculture Consolidation Data Hub, which also features concentration data broken down by sector, short fact sheets on consolidation in each industry, and more.
“Farm Action is thrilled to launch this resource to aid those fighting to reform our food system,” said Angela Huffman, president of Farm Action. “Farmers have been feeling the effects of concentration for years, but seeing the historical context and comprehensive data all in one place paints an indisputable picture: just a handful of corporations control our food and agriculture markets.”
Around three dozen corporations now dictate the lines of development and terms of trade for almost every industry involved in the growing, processing, and distribution of food in America. Decades of lax antitrust enforcement have culminated in these unprecedented levels of concentration. Meanwhile, corporations rake in record profits, farmers and workers get squeezed, and consumers pay the price at the grocery store. As the report shows, however, America has been here before, and it was government regulation of monopolies that freed farmers, workers, and consumers from corporate control. Today, we have reached a critical point where such enforcement and regulation are once again necessary.
“This report makes it crystal clear that we face a time for choosing,” said report author Basel Musharbash. “The bad news in this report is that a handful of corporate executives have managed to monopolize power over our food and our agriculture. The good news is that the American people have fought against would-be corporate masters before — and won,” he continued. “The choice before us today is whether we will accept central planning by this self-appointed oligarchy, or stand and fight for freedom like Americans have done before.”
Farm Action will host a webinar to discuss this report further on Thursday, September 26, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. ET. Join Farm Action’s Worse Than We Thought: Food System Consolidation Crisis Revealed for remarks from Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter and a discussion with Basel Musharbash to learn about the current state of food and agriculture consolidation — and how this isn’t the first time corporations have had a stranglehold on our economy.
Media Contact: Emma Nicolas, enicolas@farmaction.us, 202-450-0094
