3 ms·
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/27/business/beef-prices-cattle-ranchers.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/27/business/beef-prices-catt... "Since the 1980s,
by JaimeThompson 5y ago
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/27/business/beef-prices-cattle-ranchers.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/27/business/beef-prices-catt...
"Since the 1980s, the four largest meatpackers have used a wave of mergers to increase their share of the market from 36 percent to 85 percent...Their dominance has allowed them to extinguish competition and dictate prices."
https://twitter.com/AlecMacGillis/status/1476219789899096064 https://twitter.com/AlecMacGillis/status/1476219789899096064
- ldiracdelta 5y agoIn food supply, I think the issue is regulatory capture. If you make food in the USA you almost have to have a lawyer on staff to navigate all the regulation. Compliance team sizes are growing in ag. The difficulty of starting up a competing meatpacker plant is getting harder every year. When the ability of entry into food production is harder every year, you don't have to compete on efficiency and it trends toward monopoly.
- dcolkitt 5y agoHow does a gradual consolidation over 40 years explain a sudden spike in meat prices in the past year? The meat industry was only barely less concentrated in 2017 than 2021.
- archon 5y agoNot advocating for this point of view, but I think the thinking goes that even if <insert industry of choice here> wasn't any less concentrated in 2017 vs. now, the pandemic provided a lot of opportunity for price increase that might have otherwise caused regulatory scrutiny.