A group of U.S. Senators introduced legislation that would place a moratorium on mergers and acquisitions in the food and agriculture sector.
The Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 2022 – introduced by U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jon Tester (D-MT), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) — would also establish a commission that would study and publish recommended improvements to merger enforcement and antitrust oversight in the farm and food sectors.
“The agriculture and food industries are highly concentrated with only a few dominant players controlling a majority of the market,” Warren said. “It’s time to stop mergers that hurt workers and that enable the corporate price gouging that’s leading to higher costs for American families — this bill would help us do just that.
The moratorium would be lifted once Congress acts on the recommendations from the commission by passing legislation to address the problem of growing market concentration in the agriculture sector.
“Increased market concentration in the food and agricultural industry has led to disastrous consequences for family farmers and ranchers, food workers, food quality and safety, and communities,” Booker said. “In the past four decades, we have seen the top four firms in nearly every sector of the food and agriculture economy acquire outsized market power. Using this power as leverage, these firms have exercised undue influence over federal agriculture policies, driven family farmers and ranchers out of business, and increased food prices to pad their profits while consumers pay more at checkout lines.”
Concentration in the food and agricultural economy has accelerated rapidly since the 1980s, the senators said. The infant formula industry, for example, has four companies now controlling nearly 90 percent of the market. A disruption in the supply of just one infant formula producer now presents a risk to infant health in the United States.
Further, the top four beef packers have expanded their market share from 32 percent to 85 percent in the past four decades. The senators said this increased concentration, combined with anti-competitive practices, is driving small family farmers out of business.
“Folks in Montana know that consolidation in our food systems is hurting rural America,” Tester said. “Whether it’s meatpacking or infant formula, a lack of competition in the marketplace leads to tighter margins for American producers, higher costs for consumers, and makes our country less safe when these multi-national corporations fail to perform. Capitalism works exceptionally well when there’s competition, and this bill will help put family farmers back in the drivers’ seat by making our markets more competitive across the board.”
The bill has the support of several groups, including farm, food, rural, community, labor, consumer, and other advocacy organizations.
“When agribusiness conglomerates control the market, family farms suffer, making it difficult to earn fair prices and pushes them out of the market,” Merkley said. “This serves no one well and is devastating to our farming communities. I look forward to working with my colleagues to move this bill forward.”
U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) introduced a companion bill in the House.