Tag: C. Robert Taylor

The New Meat Monopoly: How Consolidation Affects the ANIMAL

Mike Callicrate

A generation ago, the business of raising animals for food in America looked much like it had at the Founding – family farms, open and competitive markets, high standards, and a self sustaining national economy. Today, vast corporations rule almost every corner of the animal agriculture landscape, and these giants are increasingly controlled from foreign capitals. Some economists argue in favor of this new order of things, mainly claiming it is more “efficient.” But there’s also growing evidence Read More …

The New Meat Monopoly: The Animal, The Farmer, and You in the New Age of Global Giants

Mike Callicrate

A generation ago, the business of raising animals for food in America looked much like it had at the Founding – family farms, open and competitive markets, high standards, and a self sustaining national economy. Today, vast corporations rule almost every corner of the animal agriculture landscape, and these giants are increasingly controlled from foreign capitals. Some economists argue in favor of this new order of things, mainly claiming it is more “efficient.” But there’s also growing evidence Read More …

The Fertilizer Oligopoly: The Case for Global Antitrust Enforcement

Mike Callicrate

AAI Working Paper No. 13-05: by Author: C. Robert Taylor and Diana L. Moss Fertilizers are a critical input in the agricultural sector where industrial farming is heavily dependent on external inputs of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium or potash. A history of supra-competitive pricing by the few, large global producers of fertilizer inputs – coupled with characteristics that make the market conducive to anticompetitive coordination (i.e., collusion) – raise significant competitive concerns. This working paper qualitatively and quantitatively Read More …

Federal Trade Commission Turns Deaf Ear to OCM Calls for Investigation of Global Fertilizer Cartel

Mike Callicrate

For Immediate Release CONTACT: C. Robert Taylor (334) 844-1957 Mike Callicrate (785) 332-8218 October 9, 2012 Lincoln, NE – During the past five years, profit margins by the dominant fertilizer corporations have soared as high as 60 percent even while corporate reports showed substantial excess production capacity, blatant signs of price-fixing and collusive behavior, according to alarms raised by the Organization for Competitive Markets. Despite the red flags, the Federal Trade Commission, the government body charged with insuring Read More …

OCM Briefing Paper: Broken Markets Broke Cattlemen

Mike Callicrate

broken_markets Vested interests in animal slaughter have mounted a campaign against reinvigoration of laws designed to protect the market for producers’ market-weight animals, and for retail use by consumers, too. The facts are no barrier to what is said from time to time. This OCM Briefing Paper declares that it is time for a meaningful discussion on how to fix cattle markets and restore profitability to beef cattle production in the United States. Read OCM’s Briefing Paper above.

Forget Oil, Worry About Phosphorus

Mike Callicrate

“The following was authored by C. Robert Taylor, Alfa Eminent Scholar and Professor of Agricultural Economics at Auburn University and OCM Senior Economic Fellow and published in the Daily Yonder.” (all charts, graphs and illustrations can be found in the Newsletter archives, October 2010 edition) The world’s agriculture depends on a mineral that is declining in production and is controlled by a cartel of companies. Troubling, ain’t it? Modern farming methods depend increasingly on fossil fuels and major Read More …

Restoring Economic Health to Beef Markets

Mike Callicrate

restoringbeefmarkets C. Robert Taylor and David A. Domina Law have released a paper addressing how to restore economic health to the beef market. The paper addresses market power in the food industry, the status of the U.S. Beef Market for slaughter in 2010, the status of contract swine production in 2010, a detailed description on the flaws of the beef market and solutions to fix the problems.