Farmers & Ranchers Groups Demand Monopoly Report
Filed Under: Susatainable Living on May 20, 2011
More than a year after the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Agriculture concluded workshops designed to discuss the growing impact of consolidation on America’s farm and food sectors, the final report from the workshop has yet to be released. Over 160 groups sent a letter on Tuesday demanding that U.S. Attorney General Eric HOlder and USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack release those findings to the American people.
Farmers and ranchers were highly supportive when the announcement was made that the departments would be looking into the growing monopolization of agriculture in the U.S. Many small farms and ranches were hoping to see real change that would restore some fairness to the markets.
During the five workshops, hundreds of thousands of people signed petitions, submitted testimony, and voiced their concerns about the impacts that consolidation has had on seed, meatpacking, poultry, and retail sectors.
Most of them had hoped that antitrust suits or new legislation would be the result of the workshops. Instead, a year later, not a peep has been heard from the DOJ or USDA about them.
So, amid the crickets chirping quietly in Washington, some groups decided to take action. They submitted a letter, signed by over 160 groups in all, demanding that the Attorney General and the Secretary of Agriculture release the findings of the workshops and let the American people know what was found.
The letter reads:
May 10, 2011
Honorable Eric Holder, Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20530Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20250Dear Attorney General Holder and Secretary Vilsack:
In 2010, the five workshops on Agriculture and Antitrust Enforcement Issues in Our 21st Century Economy convened by the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Agriculture established a framework for understanding the impact of consolidated economic power on farmers, workers and consumers.
We commend the Departments for organizing this important series of workshops. They created an historic opportunity for the American public to share our experiences, and many people travelled thousands of miles to participate and testify. Through this process hundreds of Americans—farmers, ranchers, workers and consumers—have shared stories of their struggles to cope with the unprecedented level of concentration in the food and agriculture industries. Hundreds of thousands more showed their concern by submitting formal comments and petitions for the record.
More than a year has passed since the first workshop took place in Iowa on March 12, 2010. The American public now awaits the next steps the Departments will take to address excessive corporate concentration in the U.S. food and agricultural sectors and its devastating impacts on American lives and livelihoods.
We strongly urge the Justice Department and USDA to expedite the completion and release of a final report on the findings and results of the workshops and submitted comments. This report should include an analysis of the scope, causes and nature of the problems and identify changes necessary to begin to address current trends in agricultural consolidation, and develop appropriate antitrust approaches to curtail monopoly or monopsony power of the seed, beef, hog, poultry and dairy industries and end the harmful impacts of unrestrained corporate power on U.S. food and farming. Our rural communities, our food supply and the fate of a major portion of the American economy depend on us fixing this problem.
Finally, as discussed in the fifth and final workshop addressing the farm to retail price spread, it is clear we cannot solve this dilemma unless we are willing to look at the whole picture of the American food chain—from the farm to the grocery store shelf.
We would appreciate receiving an outline of your intended response, with a general timeline for your planned course of action, including the publication of your findings. We hope to hear from you within a month. Please direct correspondence to Patrick Woodall at Food & Water Watch.
Sincerely,
