Making the Grade? A Review of the Biden Admin’s Commitment to Food System Competition
About this event
In July of 2021, President Biden issued a sweeping executive order that directed multiple federal agencies to revive antitrust enforcement and promote competition throughout the U.S. economy.
The order dispatched the USDA, the FTC, and the DOJ to address monopoly power in the food and agriculture system. Successful completion of these objectives has the potential to tip the balance of power toward farmers, ranchers, and the American people. Now, nearly a year later, we will answer the question, what progress has been made?
On June 14, join advocates, policymakers, and members of the press at the Capitol Hill Hilton where Farm Action and the Open Markets Institute will release their Midterm Review of the Biden Administration's Commitment to Food System Competition — a report card on the Biden administration’s trustbusting efforts in food and agriculture.
To spotlight the importance and urgency of competition reform, the event will feature a video of first-person accounts from producers and small business owners spanning the country and the food supply chain, testifying to the on-the-ground impacts of food system concentration. Finally, a panel of farmers, ranchers, and food system experts will discuss the directives from the executive order most urgently in need of fulfillment and the consequences of continued inaction.
Agenda
Welcome
Barry Lynn, Executive Director, Open Markets Institute
Angela Huffman, Co-founder and Vice President, Farm Action
A Midterm Review of the Biden Administration's Commitment to Food System Competition
Report Card Presentation and Q&A
Sarah Carden, Policy Advocate, Farm Action
Claire Kelloway, Food Systems Program Manager, Open Markets Institute
On-the-Ground Impacts of a Consolidated Food System
Video Testimony
Kara Brewer Boyd, Lumbee Tribe, Association of American Indian Farmers
Darvin Bentlage, Missouri Rural Crisis Center
Maria Payan, Socially Responsible Agriculture Project
Rosa Saavedra, Rural Coalition, Compañeras Campesinas
Sarah Lloyd, NelDell Farms, Columbia County Farmers Union
Ed Maltby, Keets Croft Farm, Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance
Kathryn Bedell, Roan Creek Ranch, Western Organization of Resource Councils
Kevin O’Reilly, U.S. PIRG
Barbara Shipman, Rural Coalition, Cottage House Incorporation, RRBG Farm
Brett Kenzy, Kenzy Backgrounding, R-CALF USA
Presented by Dee Laninga, Communications Director, Farm Action
The Need for Fair Competition Across the Supply Chain
Panel Discussion
Ricardo Salvador, Director and Senior Scientist, Food & Environment Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, moderator
Carrie Balkcom, Executive Director, American Grassfed Association
John Boyd, Jr., Founder and President, National Black Farmers Association
Michael Gay, Owner and Manager, Food Fresh
Dennis Olson, Senior Research Associate & Policy Analyst, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union
Closing
Barry Lynn, Executive Director, Open Markets Institute