Tag: DOJ

BREAKING: Department of Justice Files Amicus Brief in Dairy Farmers of America Lawsuit

OCM Staff

On July 27th, 2020, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit against Dairy Farmers of America, the United States’ largest dairy cooperative. The lawsuit, filed in Vermont U.S. District Court, alleges that DFA and other cooperatives agreed not to compete for each other’s farmer-members, conspired to share payment information in order to discourage competition and depress prices, and maintained those low prices market-wide by entering into supply agreements with Dean Foods Read More …

For Meat Industry, Anti-trust Efforts in Corporate Control Collapse

Mike Callicrate

by David Andrews In 2008 the Federal Farm Bill instructed the Department of Agriculture to write rules for competition in the meat industry. This directive was to complete the details lacking in the 80-plus-year-old legislation on competition in the meat industry from the Theodore Roosevelt era. That legislation was to be enhanced with detailed directions on contracts, anti-trust policies and mandates requiring greater justice in meat production, processing and distribution. The rules were to be developed by a Read More …

Reforming the Marketplace; What’s Next?

Mike Callicrate

Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes Executive Director In a February 9th letter to Agriculture Secretary Vilsack and Attorney General Holder, Senators Patrick Leahy and Charles Grassley state; “we would appreciate an update as to what the DOJ and USDA plans for its next steps.” The two senators, Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, were referring to following-on actions after the conclusion of last year’s joint DOJ/USDA workshops. “What’s next” seems to be the question on the Read More …

Continue the March; No Time for a Unilateral Truce!

Mike Callicrate

by Thomas F. “Fred” Stokes Over the past 30 or so years, there has developed a meek acquiescence to agricultural market concentration and anticompetitive practices and the resultant harm to family farms and ranches, rural America and our national food security. Government has seemingly been indifferent. The U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been captive to those it was supposed to regulate and the U. S. Department of Justice (USDOJ) rubber stamped every merger that came down Read More …

OCM Applauds Joint USDA/DOJ Workshops

Mike Callicrate

Lincoln, Nebraska – The Organization for Competitive Markets (OCM) expresses its pleasure at the announcement today by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Attorney General Eric Holder that they will hold the first ever joint workshops on agricultural market competition. The announcement states: “The workshops will address the dynamics of competition in agriculture markets including, among other issues, buyer power (also known as monopsony) and vertical integration.” This is the heart of OCM’s mission and we will cooperate Read More …