Loading ...Agricultural and grocery (near) monopolies use their pincer grip to destroy the small farming industry and the quality of available food
“Four grocers control 85% of the grocery market.”
“Four meatpackers control 85% of meatpacking.”
“Two seed companies control 90% of the seed genetics in farming.”
“Three big [companies] control 85% of the inputs.”
“We’ve allowed the consolidation of just about every industry to the detriment of the consumer.”
https://merylnass.substack.com/p/agricultural-and-grocery-near-monopolies?
Concentration in the food sector was a really active topic in the 1980s as well. I worked in antitrust.
But new grocery chains have appeared too. Aldi, Lidl, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Target, Amazon, etc.
Lots of new Asian and Hispanic markets outside of flyover country.
In rural areas, its just Walmart and Dollar General.
The real problem is the suppliers, where a thousand brands are all owned by a handful of suppliers.
Apparent competition on the shelf is just a ruse.
But hurrah for craft beer. New names and new styles constantly.
The problem is that Antitrust cases pursued by DOJ/FTC are extremely costly and very risky before the courts.
Not to mention … BUT I WILL … they are run by attorneys and not market savvy people.
The other problem is that shopping is inherently local, so competition analysis CANNOT be done with aggregated data. Divestitures have to be sculpted out of zip code level data.