Time to bust the meat trust
In FERN’s latest story, an op-ed published with The Washington Post, senior editor Ted Genoways argues that Kamala Harris’ vow to end price-gouging by food producers and grocery chains won’t be enough to rein in the big meatpackers. Genoways writes: “Americans are spending a greater portion …
USDA and states to tackle anticompetitive practices
A new partnership between the USDA and 31 states will “help lower food costs for American families while also giving farmers and ranchers more and better options,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack at the White House on Wednesday.
FTC accuses two pesticide makers of ‘boxing out’ competitors
Two of the largest pesticide makers in the world, Syngenta and Corteva, illegally paid distributors to limit their business with competitors that made cheaper generic versions of their chemicals so they could charge inflated prices to farmers, alleged the Federal Trade Commission and 10 state attorneys general in a lawsuit on Thursday.
Tyson to pay $221.5 million to settle price fixing claims
The largest U.S. poultry producer, Tyson Foods, said on Wednesday it would pay $221.5 million to settle antitrust litigation that accuses it of price fixing in the sale of broiler chicken meat.
Meatpackers skeptical of broader disclosure of cattle prices and purchases
Noting complaints about dwindling competition, the USDA listed several ways to improve price transparency in the cattle market on Wednesday and offered to assist stakeholders and policymakers in exploring options to assure fair prices and level the playing field between producers and processors.
USDA proposes new criteria for fair play in livestock marketing
More than two years after killing an Obama-era proposal to make it easier for livestock producers to prove unfair treatment at the hands of meat processors, the Trump administration said it wants to use four criteria to determine whether packers give undue or unreasonable preference to one producer over another. The proposal was greeted by small-farm advocates as a small step forward while insisting that broader reform was needed.
More antitrust lawsuits hit the meat industry. This time, it’s pork.
A class-action lawsuit filed this week on behalf of pork consumers alleges that hog companies have colluded to artificially hike the price of pork — and their profits. The complaint also provides new insight into Agri Stats, a data-sharing company that sits at the center of the wave of antitrust allegations sweeping the meat sector.(No paywall)