WHY

Many voices missing in 'Dialogue' with justice department

An estimated 800 people attended the workshop at the Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa.

While it was encouraging that Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack were in attendance -- and that Holder called the focus of these hearings "a national security matter," indicating that the government is taking this issue seriously -- the discussions at the workshop felt far removed from the stories we had heard the night before at the town hall. There was a lot of seductive rhetoric about the need for large-scale, industrial agriculture to feed a growing world population, and repeated references to local agriculture as a niche market. There was no mention of the difficulties that independent farmers are having feeding themselves or the fact that industrial agriculture hasn't helped the 1 billion people worldwide currently suffering from chronic hunger.

There was also no mention of the strong research indicating that small scale, community-based agriculture is an incredibly effective and efficient way to feed people. Study after study, including the UN- and World Bank-sponsored International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science, and Technology for Development (IAASTD), show that to feed a growing population, we need much greater investment in local markets, local control of seeds and growing methods, and access to land. In short, we need to significantly invest in sustainable agriculture so that it can grow beyond a niche market -- and we need to break up the monopolies that control agricultural markets and make it impossible for newcomers to compete.

WhyHunger Statement about Corporate Concentration in the Food System

By Siena Chrisman

Part III

reported March 25, 2010

As I reported below, I had the privilege of making a statement at the town hall meeting in Ankeny, Iowa, the night before the Department of Justice workshop on antitrust issues in agriculture. I also gave a similar statement to representatives from the Department of Justice and USDA in the brief public comment period at the end of their workshop on March 12.

I represent WhyHunger in New York City, as well as the national US Working Group on the Food Crisis. My work focuses on building networks and making connections to improve the food system. The bottleneck of corporate power between producers and consumers makes my work more difficult every day.

WhyHunger's partners include low income communities struggling with health problems, including some of the highest diabetes rates in the country, because there's nowhere to buy fresh, healthy, quality food in their neighborhoods. These communities were some of the ones hit hardest by the food crisis a year and a half ago, as prices for staples like milk and bread spiked -- they were at the other end of the food chain from the farmers who were then facing skyrocketing prices for inputs.

In the middle of that food chain, of course, are the corporations who made record profits in the midst of the crisis. In the winter of 2007/2008, the same period that saw lengthening lines at food pantries, those tough times for farmers, and populist rebellions around the world protesting high food prices, the world's three largest grain producers reported profit increases ranging from 67% to 86%.

Even when we’re not in the midst of a food crisis that makes the headlines, of course, many urban and rural Americans are living in a food crisis every day. My colleagues and friends in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and the South Bronx – and many other urban centers around the country -- are activists, organizers, urban farmers, and cooks. They want not only to be able to better afford food, they want supermarkets in their neighborhood. They want markets where they can buy regional produce. They want processing centers to add value to the crops they grow in their small but productive urban farms. Instead, they have a "choice" of about five different kinds of fried chicken, and nowhere to buy a decent head of lettuce or a tomato.

Supermarket chains have largely abandoned inner-cities, replaced by corner stores selling packaged, processed foods. The buying structure of both the supermarket and the corner stores is generally reliant on a single national buyer, so it’s inaccessible to small and mid-sized independent family farmers—no matter how much local residents may want healthier, locally-grown goods.

Everything that community activists and residents want to improve the urban food system will also benefit regional farmers and grow the whole region’s economy. Right now it's slow work to scale up the connections that have been slowly built between urban consumers and rural farmers, because the processing and distribution systems aren't there -- slaughterhouses and the packing facilities and the wholesale direct farmers market have, in New York, like everywhere, been consolidated and closed down. The laws and regulations for food processing favor the big companies. By some reports, we have half the slaughterhouses we did twenty years ago. New York has incredible farms and a booming market for regional food, and the capacity to connect the two is rapidly shrinking.

The concentration in the food system that favors big over small, and can effectively keep new players out of the market altogether affects all of us -- urban, rural, across the US, and past our borders. Those top three grain companies that profited from the food crisis are the three companies that control most of the grain not just in the US but around the world.
The US Working Group on the Food Crisis was formed two years ago, when the global food crisis was actually in the headlines, as a response to the idea that that agribusiness is the answer. The working group has brought together a broad-based alliance of organizations working across the food system to promote real solutions to the ongoing crisis in our food system. As part of its unifying theme of ending poverty by rebuilding local food economies, the Working Group has identified corporate concentration in the food system to be a primary barrier to building just, prosperous, community-based food economies.

The US Working Group on the Food Crisis commends the Department of Justice and USDA for initiating these investigations. We ask the administration to enforce existing antitrust laws and restore fairness and democracy in our food and agricultural systems. Further, we believe that real solutions to the ongoing food crisis are to be found in real reforms, including:

· Stabilize prices for farmers and consumers globally;
· Rebalance power in the food system;
· Make sustainable agriculture the standard; and
· Guarantee the right to healthy food by building local and regional food systems and fostering social, ecological and economic justice.

By Siena Chrisman

Part II

reported March 12, 2010

Last night in Ankeny, Iowa, just north of Des Moines, a standing-room-only crowd of over 250 people called on the Justice Department and USDA to "bust up big ag!" and put the needs of people before corporations.  Today is the official listening session where the government agencies will hear from all interested parties on the issue of corporate concentration in the food system — particularly, this round addresses "Issues of Concern to Farmers" — but the scheduled panels today are heavy on business and light on actual farmers. Several local groups organized Thursday's town hall as a venue for farmers to voice their real concerns.

The evening began with a panel of independent farmers from Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri addressing concentration in seeds, dairy, and livestock; a representative from the United Food and Commercial Workers Union; and good food advocates talking about consumer issues (I had the great privilege to be one of those last speakers).

And then the floor was open to public comments. About 50 people spoke, almost all of them farmers. They told heartbreaking stories: The 29th anniversary of one man's parents was a farm foreclosure. "The American Dream has turned into the American nightmare" for a southern Iowa dairy farmer, whose milk prices have been so low he can't afford his feed costs. The 15-year-old son of a fifth generation dairy farmer wants to become the sixth generation, but if things don't change in the next six months, they're not going to have a farm.

Things are dire for farmers — as they are for so many of people who don't have control over their food — but they're ready to fight. They made powerful demands of the Department of Justice and Congress to enforce antitrust laws and break up the hugely concentrated ag industries. But government isn't quite the last hope; people are. A family farmer from near Des Moines wanted to talk about power: "Industry cannot turn one wheel unless people make those machines work," he said. "We have the power here, and we need to understand what that power means."

We all need to start recognizing our power. The millions of us around the country talking about food are telling different stories, but with the same thread: people, not corporations, need to control what we eat. From New York to Iowa and far beyond, we need to keep talking and growing our power. Talk to each other, to strangers—and definitely talk to the government. DoJ is still accepting comments on corporate control of the food system. Tell 'em what you think.

(More coverage of the event by Reuters)

(View a video of the event)

Part I

reported March 10, 2010

There are 2 million farmers and 300 million consumers in the US. Standing in the middle are a handful of corporations who control just about everything that happens to our food between the farm and our plate -- how much it costs, how it's grown, where it comes from, what's in it, and who sells it. Most of what probably matters to you about why food isn’t healthier, safer, tastier, or all around better is affected by that narrow bottleneck of power between producers and consumers.

Standard economics holds that if the top four companies in any industry control over 50% of the market, that industry is no longer freely competitive. Right now, the top four companies control 85% of the nation's beef, 70% of pork, and 60% of the nation's poultry. Three corporations process over 70% of the nation's soy. Just one company controls 40% of our milk supply, and Monsanto holds patents on 80% of corn seed. Our food system has become one of the least competitive sectors of the marketplace.

Fair markets are supposed to be protected by federal antitrust laws, which prohibit corporations from anticompetitive behavior such as collusion, excessive mergers, and predatory conduct like price-fixing. In reality, last year's near-collapse of the world financial markets made it clear that federal laws don't always work to curb corporate power. Indeed, the world food crisis, in the headlines just before the financial crisis hit, spotlighted the level of concentrated power of the world's biggest agribusinesses: in the winter of 2007/2008, the same period that saw lengthening lines at food pantries, tough times for farmers, and populist rebellions around the world protesting skyrocketing food prices, the world's three largest grain producers reported profit increases ranging from 67% to 86%.

The world food crisis is out of the headlines, but it is clear that there is a growing crisis over who controls our food. The US Working Group on the Food Crisis, of which WhyHunger is a founding member, is a broad-based alliance working to promote real solutions to fix the broken food system. As part of its unifying theme of ending poverty by rebuilding local food economies, the Working Group has identified corporate control of the food system to be a primary barrier to building just, prosperous, community-based food economies.

We now have an unprecedented opportunity to speak out against corporate control. The Justice Department and Department of Agriculture are conducting an investigation this year into the issue of corporate concentration in the food system. They have scheduled five public listening sessions around the country this year—the first is on March 12 near Des Moines—and they are accepting public comments on how corporate concentration affects all of us.

The US Working Group on the Food Crisis commends the government for initiating these investigations and sincerely hopes the administration will use this opportunity to address decades of lax enforcement of antitrust regulations and restore fairness to the marketplace. This is also a critical moment for all of us to stay informed and take action—you can be sure that agribusiness will put up a fight to maintain the status quo, and so we all must be prepared to speak out loudly in favor of a fair and democratic food system.

WhyHunger has been actively engaged in organizing around these workshops. The night before the March 12 listening session in Iowa, we will be part of a locally-organized town hall forum, “Unleash Food Democracy: Taking on Corporate Power in our Food Supply,” and I will be reporting from the listening session itself, which will be focused on “Issues of Concern to Farmers,” including seeds, grain supply, and market transparency. We will keep you informed throughout the year on key developments and opportunities to take action—this process will only create the change we need if we all get involved.

For more: www.bustthetrust.org

Additional resources:

Food and Water Watch (December 31, 2009).Public Comment to USDA and Department of Justice Re: Agriculture and Antitrust Enforcement Issues in our 21st Century Economy. Washington, D.C., USDA and Department of Justice.

Hendrickson, M., Heffernan, William D. (2007).Concentration of Agricultural Markets. Columbia, MO, Department of Rural Sociology, University of Missouri.