The Farm Group that’s Part of Rural America’s Crisis
The Farm Group that’s Part of Rural America’s Crisis

In an article for Civil Eats, Open Markets' fellow Austin Frerick explains how the Iowa Farm Bureau is hurting rural communities. Although it was created to advocate for farmers and rural communities and is registered as a non-profit corporation, it now receives 84 percent of its revenue from its for-profit insurance arm, the FBL Financial Group, which controlled $10.1 billion in assets in 2017 alone. Its holdings include millions of dollars of investments in large agribusiness conglomerates like Monsanto and Tyson.

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Op-EdsOpen Markets2018, July 2018, Food & Agriculture, Food & Power
Bayer-Monsanto Deal Closes as Farmers Warn of Higher Prices and Less Resiliency
Bayer-Monsanto Deal Closes as Farmers Warn of Higher Prices and Less Resiliency

On Thursday, Bayer closed its $62.5 billion purchase of Monsanto. This comes roughly a week after the Department of Justice (DOJ) approved the merger, on the condition that the corporations sell off $9 billion worth of assets, including seed divisions, intellectual property, research projects, and more. Yet even after these divestitures, the combined entity will be the largest global seed and agrochemical corporation, and U.S. based field crop growers fear the power of the new combine.

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BlogsClaire Kelloway2018, July 2018, Food & Agriculture, Food & Power, Claire Kelloway
These 11 Companies Control Everything About the Fourth of July
These 11 Companies Control Everything About the Fourth of July

In an article for Vice, Open Markets Food & Power reporter Claire Kelloway explains why from hot dogs to beer to chips and even charcoal, you don’t have much of a choice in whom you pay to celebrate. Even though the average grocery store carries tens of thousands of products, Americans' Independence Day shopping dollars overwhelmingly go to a tiny number of enormous companies.

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Op-EdsClaire Kelloway2018, July 2018, Food & Agriculture, Claire Kelloway
The Corner Newsletter, June 28, 2018: Fighting Against Monopoly — SoftBank's Market Power Machine — AT&T Moves to Manipulate
The Corner Newsletter, June 28, 2018: Fighting Against Monopoly — SoftBank's Market Power Machine — AT&T Moves to Manipulate

In this issue of The Corner, we look at U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's extreme pro-corporate record in antitrust cases. We report on the troubling implications of Match Group's roll-up of dating apps and question its intentions. And we interview Stacy Mitchell on Amazon's effort to grab power over your local government's procurement business.

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NewslettersOpen Markets2018, June 2018