This week OSA joined more than 160 organizations in a letter to the Senate and House Agriculture Committees and Senate and House Judiciary Committees urging them to make the issues of increased market transparency, fairness, and access for farmers and ranchers a top priority in agricultural competition legislation and the next Farm Bill.
Two years ago, USDA and DOJ hosted workshops across the US on competition issues in agriculture and antitrust enforcement. Thousands of farmers and ranchers testified in person or submitted written comments about the harm arising from market concentration and anticompetitive conduct.
On the issue of seed, the letter calls on the committees to: Address practices in the seed industry that reduce competition and raise prices for farmers, including restrictive utility patents, cross-licensing agreements, limited access to germplasm and generic seeds, and the use of patents to undermine competition and stifle scientific innovation in the seed industry.
OSA detailed the consequences of seed industry concentration in our comments to USDA and DOJ here.
