The effects of concentration within the food sector were the focus on a House Judiciary subcommittee Wednesday. The majority of the testimony dealt with the meat and poultry sector, but Farm Action President Joe Maxwell also addressed consolidation in the fertilizer industry. “When commodity prices are high, dominant firms simply raise prices of inputs,” testified Maxwell. “While the cost to manufacture fertilizer has increased, these increases do not justify a 680 percent increase in the gross margins for fertilizer.” The president and founder of the International Center for Law and Economics Geoffrey Manne said rising food prices can be blamed on many things including increased demand from financial stimulus and supply chain disruptions. “Rather than accepting these extremely likely causes, of the recent increase in prices some, including the White House, have seized the opportunity to blame inflation on a widespread pandemic of greed and collusion by businesses, especially meatpacking, grocery stores and oil companies.” Witnesses also represented the Natural Resources Defense Council, a contract poultry producer, an independent grocery store retailer and the Heritage Foundation.
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