Big Ag wields extraordinary power over our food system, which prioritizes industry profits over public health, the environment, and farming communities. That’s why we are excited to enthusiastically support groundbreaking new legislation introduced recently by Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in the Senate and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) in the House to halt the merger mania that has contributed to this dysfunctional system.
Their legislation would provide needed relief to farmers, workers, rural communities and eaters across the country by creating a strategic pause in the wave of mega-mergers that have hyper-consolidated every link in the food chain, from seed to supermarket. It’s is a crucial step to busting up the Foodopoly in which a handful of players drive food policy in the service of Wall Street, not Main Street.
An unprecedented wave of mergers in food and agriculture markets has driven down the prices farmers receive, lowered wages for food workers, eliminated choices for both farmers and consumers, and fueled the environmental and public health impacts of factory farms and chemical agriculture.
Ag mega-mergers also hit people in the pocketbook: Since the Great Recession in 2008, real consumer food prices have risen about three times faster than typical earnings. In 2015 and 2016, there were about 600 food and beverage mergers a year, worth a combined $176 billion—50% more deals than before the economic downturn a decade ago. These massive mash-ups have included the Kraft-Heinz deal, three huge seed and agrichemical mergers and the Amazon takeover of Whole Foods, among others.
A 2013 Food & Water Watch study found that just a handful of companies dominated the sales of 100 common grocery product categories. In fact, many firms sell the same products under multiple brands, giving the shopper an illusion of choice that simply isn’t there.
Meanwhile, the market control these massive companies enjoy—and the mounting political influence that comes with it—hurts workers, farmers, eaters and our environment.
Congress passing this legislation would send a strong signal that it puts people over ag industry profits. Food & Water Watch is proud to endorse these bills, which revive the late Sen. Paul Wellstone’s vision for a fairer food and agriculture landscape, and we urge other members of Congress to co-sponsor this legislation.
Wenonah Hauter is the executive director of the national advocacy organization, Food & Water Watch (foodandwaterwatch.org) and author of Foodopoly: The Future of Food and Farming in America (Foodopoly.org). Phone 202-683-2500.
From The Progressive Populist, October 15, 2018
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