STWR - Share The World's Resources

Following the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), changes in US farm policy fuelled market concentration in agriculture. The real losers in this scenario are farmers and rural communities in Mexico and Canada, says a report by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

Link to full paper (PDF): NAFTA - Fueling Market Concentration in Agriculture

12th March 2010

NAFTA and Agribusiness Concentration

March 2010 - Ben Lilliston, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of Justice will host the first ever workshops on competition issues in agriculture in Ankeny, Iowa. A new IATP fact sheet looks at the role of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in accelerating agribusiness concentration. It includes short testimonies from farm groups in Mexico, Canada and the U.S.

“NAFTA opened the door to create one large, and increasingly concentrated, North American market for big agribusiness companies,” said IATP’s Alexandra Spieldoch. “Farmers in all three countries have been squeezed by a handful of companies. As the Justice Department and the USDA assess competition in agriculture, it is imperative that they consider the international impacts of corporate concentration and reforms needed to create fair markets. Competition reform cannot be viewed exclusively as a domestic issue.”

You can read the full fact sheet here.

You can read IATP’s comment to the USDA and Justice Department on the need to address corporate competition in agriculture here.

Link to original source