The Senate Judiciary Committee this week will delve into some of the highest costs for farmers — seed and fertilizer — and how a few corporations now dominate those businesses.
Committee Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), himself a farmer, has sponsored legislation to require the Agriculture Department to study competition in the fertilizer industry, which is controlled mainly by four companies.
At issue are effects farmers, and the public at large, see from increased market concentration in two high-cost areas for farmers. Price spikes in fertilizer and feed put more pressure on farms that may already be struggling economically, and they can add to the cost of food for average consumers.
As the businesses become more concentrated, farm groups warn that companies are testing the limits of federal antitrust laws.
