The ABA Antitrust section has announced a new Agriculture and Food Committee.
Members of the agricultural law community interested in the unprecedented joint DOJ/USDA workshops on competition and regulation in agriculture taking place this year, and the many other antitrust and consumer protection developments in agriculture and food markets may now keep up on the news and add to the dialogue in this sector by signing up for the new Agriculture and Food Committee of the ABA Section of Antitrust Law.
Antitrust scrutiny is being directed at agriculture by government and private parties at an intensity not seen since Congress passed the Packers and Stockyards Act nearly 90 years ago. The ongoing DOJ/USDA workshops focusing on competition, pricing and policy in agriculture markets are being led personally by the U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, and the Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, Christine Varney. Formation of a joint DOJ/USDA task force on antitrust in agriculture was announced last month. AAG Varney has committed to review consummated agriculture-related mergers of the past eight years, and the Justice Department earlier this year filed suit to force Dean Foods to divest dairy processing facilities acquired in 2009. Farmers and ranchers are bringing political pressure for solutions to what they see as excess concentration and unfair practices among processors, and licensing and post-sale restraints on use of transgenic seeds are under fire in the courts and in the writings of antitrust commentators.
The Agriculture and Food Committee is focused on reporting, educating, and participating in these accelerating antitrust developments.
For more information or to join the Agriculture and Food Committee, please click this link to visit the Agriculture & Food Committee’s webpage. There you will also find links and materials on recent cases, decisions, and the joint DOJ/USDA workshops. If you would like to get actively involved in the work of this new Committee, please contact Ian Conner at iconner@hunton.com or John Shively at jshively@faegre.com.
Posted: 06/22/2010
