Latest Stories — Food & Power

Bunge and Viterra’s Mega Merger Would Dramatically Consolidate Global Grain Trade

Bunge’s proposed merger with Glencore’s Viterra would be the largest grain trading deal in over a decade, creating a global agricultural commodity goliath to rival industry leaders Archer-Daniels-Midland and Cargill.

Farm Credit Seeks Exemption from CFPB Small Business Lending Transparency Rule

The Farm Credit system is the largest lender in agriculture. It wants an exemption from a new CFPB sunshine rule aimed at identifying discrimination in small business lending.

PolicyClaire KellowayJune 1, 2023farm credit, credit, CFPB, Racial Equity

Report Analyzes How Public Food Purchasing Can Promote Food Justice

A new report by the HEAL Food Alliance and Food Chain Workers Alliance draws on a decade of organizing to identify how public food purchasing programs can better advance racial equity and worker organizing.

As Food Prices Keep Rising, Study Finds Market Power Drove Pandemic Inflation

A new economic study makes the case that concentrated market power helped corporations pull off pandemic price hikes and reap record profits.

Colorado Passes First Tractor Right to Repair Law

Colorado will be the first state to require farm equipment makers to share or sell all the tools, manuals, and software that farmers need to fix their tractors and combines. 16 other states have introduced similar bills.

PolicyClaire KellowayApril 20, 2023Right to Repair, Tractors, John Deere, Secondary Feature

Class Action Alleging Sheep Herder Wage-Fixing Moves Forward

Sheep ranchers hire guest workers, the bulk of their workforce, through a joint venture that offers the same, legal minimum wage across all openings. A class action suit alleges this violates antitrust laws.

USDA Report Highlights Harms of Seed Consolidation and Restrictive IP

A USDA report reveals that a handful of monopolies control most the patents on top U.S. commodity crops, inhibiting critical seed research, diversification, and competition.

Report: Big Ag Soil Carbon Programs Entrench Corporate Power And Delay Real Climate Action

A new report by the Open Markets Institute and Friends of the Earth argues that corporate-led soil carbon offset programs risk increasing greenhouse gas emissions while entrenching agribusiness market power.

Policy, Seeds & AgrichemicalsClaire KellowayMarch 9, 2023Carbon Markets, cargill, Bayer, climate change

Family Farmer Advocates Outline Farm Bill Priorities

As Congress prepares to pass the Farm Bill, many advocates have visited Washington to promote policies that challenge corporate consolidation in the food system. Food & Power has a roundup of their proposals.

PolicyClaire KellowayFebruary 23, 2023farm bill, CAFO, fishermen, COOL, mergers, Moratorium, EQIP, USDA, Land, dairy

Report Details Three Decades of Dairy Devastation

The average dairy farmer managed to turn an annual profit just twice between 2000 and 2021 driving two-thirds of family-scale farms out of business, a new report finds. Export-oriented dairy policies have failed to secure fair prices for farmers.

DairyClaire KellowayFebruary 9, 2023dairy, Trade, Vilsack, checkoffs

How the FTC’s Noncompete Ban Would Affect Food Workers

One in six U.S. food service workers and one in five agriculture industry workers have signed a noncompete agreement. Banning these contracts could raise wages and entrepreneurship.

Policy, LaborClaire KellowayJanuary 26, 2023Noncompetes, FTC, labor, workers, Fast Food, Secondary Feature

Congress Encourages Corporate Sponsorship of USDA Conservation Programs

A new law lets corporations fund select USDA conservation programs in exchange for branded sponsorship and a cut of any environmental service benefits generated.

PolicyClaire KellowayJanuary 12, 2023Carbon Markets, USDA