When you control over 25% of the U.S. grocery market and more than 50% of grocery sales in over 200 regions, you pretty much get to do whatever you want. Walmart, whose SuperCenter stores have been driving out local businesses in a town near you for over 30 years, has now decided it wants to try its hand at meatpacking. And why not? Cutting out the middleman is good for the bottom line. Keeping as many processes in-house Read More …
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 …
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 …
Brazilian class action lawsuit against corrupt meatpacking behemoth JBS lays out the undisputed evidence that through bribing over 1,800 Brazilian politicians, JBS was able to take over U.S. Swift Food, U.S. Smithfield beef group, and Pilgrim’s Pride, launching their takeover of the U.S. meat processing industry and becoming the world’s leading meat processor. The lawsuit demands JBS restore to the Brazilian public nearly a billion U.S. dollars of its ill-gotten gain. Meanwhile, U.S. officials have forked over yet Read More …
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Monday, January 13, 2020, the Federal Register will publish a proposed rule by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS). This rule aims to specify criteria the Secretary of Agriculture would consider when determining whether an undue or unreasonable preference or advantage has occurred in violation of the Packers and Stockyards Act. Upon its initial review of the proposed rule, Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) issued the following assessment: USDA Read More …
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Titus (NV-01) introduced the Opportunities for Fairness in Farming (OFF) Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. This legislation is the companion bill to S.935, filed in 2019 by U.S. Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Rand Paul (R-KY), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). The OFF Act would put an end to the most egregious abuses committed by the boards and contractors of the federally mandated commodity checkoff programs. Checkoff programs have been instrumental in the Read More …
What a year! 2019 wraps up as one of OCM’s most successful yet. We exposed and challenged JBS’ corrupt monopoly power, the injustice in the market with the repeal of mandatory Country of Origin Labeling, how farmers’ checkoff dollars are being pocketed by industrialized agriculture lobbying groups, and how global corporations and foreign countries are buying up America’s farmland, disadvantaging U.S. farmers and ranchers. With your help we have taken on the food and agriculture monopolies, and they Read More …
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Angela Huffman ahuffman@competitivemarkets.com 614-390-7552 Washington, D.C. — Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to approve the U.S., Mexico, and Canada trade agreement (USMCA). The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) issued the following statement: OCM is gravely disappointed that the economic viability of America’s farmers and ranchers has once again been left out of the trilateral trade agreement. Like its predecessor, NAFTA, USMCA fuels the consolidation and monopolization of food and agriculture, and is harmful Read More …