WASHINGTON D.C. — On May 18, U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ), Jon Tester (D-MT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) introduced the Food and Agribusiness Merger Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 2022, legislation that would place an immediate and indefinite moratorium on acquisitions and mergers in the food and agriculture sector. 

Supported by farm, food, rural, community, labor, consumer, and other advocacy organizations, the bill would also establish a commission that would study and publish recommended improvements to merger enforcement and antitrust oversight in the farm and food sectors. The moratorium would be lifted once Congress acts on the recommendations from the commission by passing comprehensive legislation to address the problem of growing market concentration in the agriculture sector. Companion legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI-02).

Concentration in the food and agricultural economy has accelerated at a rapid pace since the 1980s, and particularly since the Great Recession. This trend has far-reaching implications, especially for consumers. The infant formula industry, for example, has reached an alarming level of corporate concentration with four companies now controlling nearly 90% of the infant formula market. A disruption in the supply of just one infant formula producer now presents a grave risk to infant health in the United States. Consolidation also contributes to the widening gap in economic opportunity in the United States as dominant firms are likely to deliver profits to investors than to raise wages or benefits. 

In the past four decades, the top four beef packers have expanded their market share from 32% to 85%. This increased concentration, combined with anticompetitive practices and other abuses by these large multinational meatpacking companies, are driving small family farmers out of business and undermining the economies of rural communities. 

“Increased market concentration in the food and agricultural industry has led to disastrous consequences for family farmers and ranchers, food workers, food quality and safety, and communities,” said Sen. Booker. “In the past four decades, we have seen the top four firms in nearly every sector of the food and agriculture economy acquire outsized market power. Using this power as leverage, these firms have exercised undue influence over federal agriculture policies, driven family farmers and ranchers out of business, and increased food prices to pad their profits while consumers pay more at checkout lines. This alarming trend must be reversed.” 

“Corporate profiteering and out-of-control consolidation by big agricultural firms have led to increased prices at every point on the food chain, from the farm to the grocery store,” Rep. Pocan said. “Congress must do more to help local farmers be competitive while providing greater market transparency to the American consumer. Today, too many middle-class families, farmers, and food workers struggle to make ends meet. Establishing a moratorium on agribusiness mergers will protect our farms and farmers while ensuring consumers continue to enjoy variety on supermarket shelves.”