USDA Aims to Boost Fair Competition and Lower Food Prices, Targeting Seed and Meat Industries

USDA announced several initiatives to promote fair competition in American agriculture and reduce food prices for consumers Tuesday morning, in line with President Biden's Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American economy.

Seed competition framework. USDA introduced a three-part strategy to enhance seed system diversity, competition, and resilience:

• Improving patent-related disclosure for seeds to clarify research opportunities.

• Providing guidance to USDA researchers on using protected germplasm.

• Encouraging the sharing of federally funded germplasm for research and plant breeding.

Meat Retail Industry Report

USDA published an interim report assessing competitive conditions in the meat retail industry, focusing on beef markets as a case study. The report identifies:

• Increasing market concentration among top packers, distributors, and retailers.

• Concerns from farmers and small to midsize processors about problematic practices by intermediaries.

Cattle Price Discovery Initiative

USDA announced steps to enhance price discovery and fairness in cattle markets through an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR). This initiative aims to:

• Improve the base prices in fed cattle purchasing agreements.

• Address concerns about the negative effects of Alternative Marketing Agreements (AMAs) on the spot market.