Food safety officials lifted a ban on Friday on Brazilian beef imports, introducing a potential windfall for multinational meatpackers and significant threats to American ranchers and consumers.
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Canada’s Competition Bureau is looking into an allegation that agribusiness giants Bayer, Corteva, BASF, Cargill, and others tried to crush an online ag retailing startup, the California-based Farmers Business Network (FBN), according to court filings reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
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Personalized pricing was a popular topic at the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York City this month, reports Food & Power Reporter Claire Kelloway. Grocery stores can leverage a combination of data analytics and customer identification and tracking tools to offer real-time individual pricing and promotions, both online and in-store. While the practice may still be in its infancy, some experts believe that personalized prices will become the standard in food retail and beyond.
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On Monday, the USDA thwarted a decade of efforts to help farmers seek justice for discrimination, retaliation, and unfair treatment by meatpackers. Trump’s USDA introduced new criteria to determine whether a meatpacker violated the Packers and Stockyards Act, after withdrawing an Obama-era proposal two years ago. This latest proposal omits several critical farmer protections from the previous rule and introduces new language that could codify abusive industry practices.
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Presidential candidate Sen. Cory Booker introduced a bill on Monday to radically reform an animal agriculture system that currently puts independent producers, rural communities, and consumers at risk.
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Baldwin, Florida, a town of roughly 1,600 residents west of Jacksonville, lost its last grocery store in 2018. Residents were left with a Dollar General and a 10-mile drive to the nearest full-service store. The town council couldn’t attract another grocery chain to take over the store, but they did own the property. So the council and Baldwin Mayor Sean Lynch decided the town would get in the grocery business and re-opened the store.
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Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. and Chinese trade officials reached a deal to lift China’s five-year ban on U.S. poultry imports in exchange for the U.S. allowing more Chinese cooked chicken and seafood products.
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On Monday, a coalition of students, farmers, ranchers, fishers, and food workers rallied outside the Philadelphia headquarters of cafeteria operator, Aramark, to demand the corporation invest in more just and sustainable food systems. About 60 demonstrators then delivered a petition to Aramark with over 100,000 signatures, according to the Community Coalition for Real Meals, which organized the protest.
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Last week, nearly 500 cattle producers from 14 states rallied in Omaha, Nebraska to denounce corporate control over cattle markets and to demand that the Trump administration do something to fix it.
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On Wednesday, the CEO of e-cigarette maker Juul abruptly stepped down after a tumultuous month. Two weeks ago, President Trump proposed banning products that represent 80 percent of Juul’s sales and federal prosecutors and agencies have launched investigations into the company’s marketing tactics and supply chain. Also Wednesday, tobacco giant Phillip Morris International ended merger talks with Altria, which owns a 35 percent stake in Juul.
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In 2015, a group of Peruvian shepherds working for sheep ranchers in the western U.S. filed an antitrust suit alleging that the ranchers had colluded to hold down wages and avoid competing for labor. A judge initially dismissed the case and a three-judge panel on the Tenth Circuit agreed this July. On Tuesday, the plaintiffs petitioned for another chance at their day in court. (The Open Markets Institute plans to file an amicus brief in support of their petition.)
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The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control is investigating whether or not Amazon’s Los Angeles location meets state qualifications for a liquor store. Amazon intends to focus on delivering alcohol giving the online corporation a competitive advantage over California alcohol retailers who must pay for staff, stocking, and real estate.
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