WNAX | Organization For Competitive Markets Is Monitoring Sale Of Dean Foods Assets

The Organization For Competitive Markets is monitoring the bidding process for the acquisition of Dean Foods assets following the company’s decision to file for bankruptcy. Earlier Dean had received an offer from Dairy Farmers of America to purchase some of their assets however they have now withdrawn that offer. That move allows for a competitive bidding process. OCM Policy and Research Director Ben Gotschall says that competitive bidding is what’s needed to address concentration concerns. He says OCM Read More …

WNAX | OCM Calling For Revision Of DOJ And FTC Vertical Merger Guidelines

The Organization for Competitive Markets has filed comments with the U.S. Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission on their Vertical Merger Guidelines. OCM Director of Policy and Research Ben Gotschall says those guidelines haven’t been revised since 1982 and have several shortcomings that need fixing. He says the current guidelines don’t give enough protection to consumers, or farmers and ranchers and need to be thrown out and replaced. Gotschall says there’s also a comment period going on now Read More …

Brian Ross Investigates | $100 Million Outrage; Corrupt Brothers Collect US Taxpayer Money

This episode of Brian Ross Investigates looks at the case of two brothers linked to a huge corruption scandal in Brazil who have been buying up American meatpacking companies, which have now received more than $100 million in U.S. taxpayer money meant for American farmers and ranchers. Brian Ross joined the Law & Crime Network as chief investigative correspondent in 2018 after decades of award-winning work at ABC News and NBC News. His reports have exposed government and corporate Read More …

CNN | Walmart takes a step toward owning the food chain

Source: CNN By Nathaniel Meyersohn America’s biggest retailers are pushing back against this country’s largest meat processors. The future of the nation’s food chain is on the line. Walmart last week opened a meatpacking plant in south Georgia that will cut, package and label its own brand of steaks and roasts to deliver to meat cases at 500 stores in the region. It is Walmart’s first meatpacking plant. Costco has also developed its own farm-to-store poultry production operation in Nebraska Read More …

WNAX Radio | OCM Concerned With Dairy Market Concentration

Source: WNAX Radio Date Published: January 19, 2020 The Organization for Competitive Markets is studying the Justice Department’s investigation of Dairy Farmers of America and their potential deal to acquire the bankrupted Dean Foods. OCM Policy and Research Director Ben Gotschall says they’re very concerned about increasing concentration in the dairy industry. He says prior to Dean Foods filing for bankruptcy there was already market concentration and following the restructuring it also led to the loss of several Read More …

POLITICO | The Trump Administration Chose Meatpacking Giants Over Farmers in USDA Proposal, Critics Say

Source: POLITICO By Catherine Boudreau Farmers who hoped President Donald Trump would side with them over meatpacking conglomerates were dealt a blow after the Agriculture Department proposed changing rules governing fair competition in the industry. The latest proposal omits an Obama-era effort that would have made it easier for livestock farmers to win lawsuits against meat processors like JBS or Tyson Foods. For at least a decade, farmers have said there is an impossibly high bar to prove Read More …

Fox News | American farmers getting crushed by corruption from imported beef monopoly

Fox News By Emily DeCiccio America’s farmers and ranchers are applauding a bipartisan push to formally review a meat-processing conglomerate’s apparent illicit dealings and whether its products are helping support Venezuela’s Socialist regime. Senators Marco Rubio, R-Fla. and Bob Menendez, D-N.J., are spearheading a push to investigate Joesley and Wesley Batista. The senators sent a letter to Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin on Oct. 8 requesting a formal review of the transactions of Brazilian meat-processing conglomerate, JBS S.A. The Batistas are the controlling shareholders of two prominent U.S. companies, JBS Read More …