Courtesy of NFU
DENVER, CO – Last week, delegates attending the annual National Farmers Union convention agreed that a fair, open, and competitive marketplace is central to the health and wellbeing of the economy and that excessive market concentration in agriculture, threatens family farmers and ranchers, as well as national food security and sovereignty.
Specifically, markets dominated by monopolies lack resilience and are susceptible to disruptions that harm farmers and consumers, and concentration in many other industries has also decimated small businesses, especially in rural areas.
Using the four-firm concentration ratios (CR4), a commonly used metric for illustrating market concentration that specifies the market share for the top four firms in an industry, NFU found that in 2018 the ratio for beef processors was 85 percent, 70 percent for pork, and 54 percent for chicken.
As of 2015, the ratios for corn seed companies had reached 85 percent with soybean seeds relying on 76 percent.
For farm chemicals, four firms account for 84 percent of the total market share and just two equipment manufacturers are responsible for about half of all tractors and machinery used by farmers.
NFU delegates approved five special orders of business, including one called “Fairness for Farmers”, aimed at addressing the growing concentration in the ag industry.
(SOURCE: All Ag News)
