For Immediate Release

By: R-CALF USA Marketing Director Jaiden Moreland

Contact: R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard

Phone: 406-252-2516; r-calfusa@r-calfusa.com

 

BILLINGS, Mont., Sept. 29, 2023 – This month, R-CALF USA joined on to comments by Food & Water Watch and cosigned by several other organizations representing farming, ranching, consumer, and environmental interests, that were submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in strong support of the agencies’ updated Merger Guidelines proposed last July.

In the comments, the groups applauded the FTC and the Antitrust Division of the DOJ for moving to strengthen and clarify how mergers will be reviewed. They noted that inadequate antitrust enforcement has allowed monopolistic trends and anti-competitive behavior to become rampant in food and agricultural markets, highlighting the devastating consequences for rural America, rural economies, and the American food system.

The comments focused on the importance of the Guidelines reining in unbridled consolidation in agribusiness markets, which have eliminated competition and trended toward monopolies far beyond what Congress intended to avoid when passing the Sherman and Clayton Acts.

According to the FTC, the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 outlaws every contract, combination, or conspiracy in restraint of trade, and any monopolization, attempted monopolization, or conspiracy or combination to monopolize. And the Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 prohibits mergers and acquisitions where the effect may be substantially to lessen competition or to tend to create a monopoly. It also bans certain discriminatory prices, services, and allowances in dealings between merchants.

The organizations’ comments noted their support of the Guidelines establishing clear thresholds and presumptions indicating which mergers violate the Clayton Act and therefore should be blocked and made recommendations to further strengthen that approach. They also made clear their support for returning to proper antitrust enforcement principles, under which claimed efficiencies cannot save an otherwise illegal merger or acquisition.

The group of organizations also included numerous examples and exhibits and previous comments that they and others submitted in April of 2022 on the joint FTC-DOJ Merger Enforcement Request for Information. These earlier comments provided specific examples, recommendations and requests for the strengthening of merger enforcement guidelines and the effective enforcement of laws preventing further concentration and anticompetitive behavior in agribusiness markets, noting the results of the agencies’ failures to previously uphold the laws.

“We thank the DOJ and FTC’s efforts to strengthen antitrust enforcement and revive the letter and spirit of the Clayton Act,” said R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard. “We encourage the strong enforcement of the Guidelines and the halting of further mergers or acquisitions by dominant firms in our markets. We will continue working to halt market concentration to protect American farmers, ranchers, and consumers, so we can return profitability and prosperity to rural America.”

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Ranchers-Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) is the largest producer-only lobbying and trade association representing U.S. cattle producers. It is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle and sheep industries. Visit www.r-calfusa.com or call (406) 252-2516 for more information.