antitrust
Roundup Ready generics: New opportunities but also new obstacles?
(January 22, 2010) - The impending loss of Monsanto's patent on its Roundup Ready soybean in 2014 raises a number of important policy issues in addition to those raised in DuPont's anti-trust case against Monsanto and the opening of an antitrust investigation of Monsanto by the US Department of Justice.
Monsanto's Roundup Ready genetics is used in 90 percent of all soybeans grown in the United States. Other major crops containing the Roundup Ready genetics are corn and cotton.
The advent of this technology in soybeans in 1996 spelled the end to bean walking and bean bars as a means of controlling weeds in soybeans. Spraying glyphosate on soybeans with the Roundup Ready gene killed the weeds while allowing the soybean plants to continue growing and providing farmers with a superior weed-control technology.
While the technology did not affect yields appreciably, it saved farmers time and effort. The Roundup Ready technology also provided weed control for no-till agriculture.
One of the contractual obligations farmers accepted in buying Roundup Ready soybeans was a prohibition on the saving of seed as had been common among soybean farmers before the advent of the technology. In addition to paying a higher price for the seed, farmers pay a technology fee.
Sleeping with the fishes
(September 6, 2009) - If mega-biz is to be believed, the new antitrust chief in the Obama Department of Justice, Christine A. Varney, is really a hurricane whose chief ambition is to demolish the very foundations of modern American business.
If the Wall Street Journal is to be believed, Varney's first public comments on antitrust, offered in May 12 speech, was "the Beltway version of a large fish wrapped in newspaper. The message: The Bush era's laissez-faire M&A (merger and acquisition) oversight is over."
And, if you listen to Varney and her assistant, Philip Weiser, maybe neither one of those descriptions-despite the hyperbole-is hyperbole.
Here's Varney, in that May 12 speech: "There is no adequate substitute for a competitive market, particularly during times of economic distress. Vigorous antitrust enforcement must play a significant role in the government's response to economic crises to ensure that markets remain competitive."
How? In an appearance before the annual meeting of the Organization for Competitive Markets Aug. 7 in St. Louis, Varney's deputy, Philip Weiser, pulled out the antitrust elephant gun not seen decades: the Sherman Antitrust Act
The oligarchs of ag
(April 1, 2009) - Former General Motors boss Rick Wagoner evidently did not understand the meaning of the Biblical admonition of those who live by the sword often die by it.
It's easy to see why. Detroit has owned Washington, D.C. for, well, forever: no increase in car mileage standards since the Pinto; no new fuel technologies since Henry Ford poured ethanol into his Model A; gazillions for interstates, peanuts for public transportation.
Now, however, the roles are reversed and Washington owns most of Detroit. As such, the auto oligarchs are shaking in their wood paneled offices and crying in their parked private jets.
And they should.
Golly, would you expect to keep your job if, as in the case of Wagoner since 2004, the company you ran lost $82 billion, had its marketshare hacksawed from 33 percent to 18 and its stock price from over $70 to $4 while the biggest brainstorm you had to quell the growing calamity was the Hummer?
Hey, only Wall Street bankers and Capitol Hill lawmakers can sport such a sorry record and still keep their jobs. You, me-and now, Wagoner-couldn't.
JBS dropped attempt to purchase National Beef Packing Company
St. Paul (February 24, 2009) - Minnesota Farmers Union declares victory after learning JBS S.A. has terminated its attempt to purchase National Beef Packing Company. This decision allows for better competition in the market, benefiting beef cattle producers and consumers everywhere. According to the Minnesota Attorney General's office, if this merger went through, three companies would have controlled 80% of the United States fed cattle processing capacity.
"Last summer, Minnesota Farmers Union met with Attorney General Lori Swanson about the terrible impacts this merger would have on the cattle industry, and urged her to join in this lawsuit" said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. "Minnesota Farmers Union wants to thank Attorney General Swanson for joining the antitrust litigation, essentially blocks a monopoly which would have increased the prices consumers pay for their beef and lowered the costs farmers receive."
A lawsuit to block this merger was filed in October by Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson, along with the Attorneys General of 12 other states and the United States Department of Justice on antitrust grounds. With the news that JBS has forfeited their attempt to purchase National Beef Packing Company, the pending litigation will be terminated.
MN Farmers Union applauds lawsuit against consolidation of the beef markets
St. Paul (October 23, 2008) - Minnesota's Attorney General's office, along with the United States Department of Justice, and 12 other attorney's general offices have filed a civil antitrust lawsuit against the Brazilian conglomerate JBS from purchasing the American beef packing company National Beef Packing Company.
"Earlier in the summer, Minnesota Farmers Union urged Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson to act on this proposed merger because of the devastating impact this merger would have on farmers and consumers," said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. "Too much consolidation leads to price gouging of the farmer who actually raises the cattle, and rising beef costs to the consumer. I want to thank Attorney General Swanson, the Department of Justice, and all the other states that joined in this suit for their action in ensuring a fair price for cattle suppliers, and consumers."
According to the Minnesota Attorney General's office, the lawsuit claimed this deal would substantially lessen competition, and if this merger went through, three companies, JBS, Tyson and Cargill, would control over 80% of U.S fed cattle processing capacity. It also claims that these three companies would then have the market power to raise the prices that consumers pay, and lower the price that the farmers get who raise the cattle.