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>You’re absolutely right. For example, we’ve seen the negative impacts from excessive agricultural consolidation. Like what? >Many of them already lack profit

by gruez 5d ago

>You’re absolutely right. For example, we’ve seen the negative impacts from excessive agricultural consolidation. Like what? >Many of them already lack profitability without subsidy. That doesn't mean anything without context. How are the non-PE farms doing? >We’ve already made things like water and sanitation non-profit/government owned so the idea of doing more of that for food and essentials isn’t that crazy. sanitation: please see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Management,_Inc https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Management,_Inc. water, but not power, or natural gas?

Grombobulous 5d ago
Google “taylor farms cyclospora” or “tyson beef prices shortage” for an example of the problems of highly consolidated processing. I wasn’t talking about private equity farms versus not, I’m generally talking about industry consolidation. Sanitation includes sewers which are typically municipal. Power and natural gas are legal monopolies with strict rules on pricing. There are also public electric utilities such as Cleveland Public Power.
- gruez 5d ago
  >Google “taylor farms cyclospora” or “tyson beef prices shortage” for an example of the problems of highly consolidated processing. I already addressed cyclospora in another comment, but how is consolidation or tyson beef supposed to be blamed for the shortage? Media reports blamed the shortage on droughts and/or screw worms, hardly a tyson issue. Not to mention tyson hasn't exactly been raking it in during all this shortage: >Yet despite record beef prices, the “Big Processors”, as Mr Trump calls them, are not thriving. Shares in Tyson, the largest, have tumbled by 40% since 2021—and by 7% since it cut its earnings forecast on September 3rd. It now expects its beef business, which brings in 40% of revenue, to lose as much as $775m this year. Trouble in the division has dragged the company’s overall operating margin down from 8.5% in 2021 to 2.6%. JBS, which is Brazilian, has said its North American business lost $427m in the first half of 2026. https://www.economist.com/business/2026/09/10/beef-has-never-been-pricier-and-meatpackers-are-suffering https://www.economist.com/business/2026/09/10/beef-has-never...
everfree 5d ago
> Like what? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foodborne_illness_outbreaks_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foodborne_illness_outb... If a product isn't nationally consolidated, it can't have a national foodborne illness outbreak.
- gruez 5d ago
  >it can't have a national foodborne illness outbreak. Which is bad for PR and great for clicks, but it's entirely unclear whether we're better off on average. What about all the years where we didn't have a mass outbreak? Would it be better if every state/county had separate food supply chains, and they had the same rate of illness, but it's more randomly dispersed so it doesn't make it to national TV? Think the difference between airplane crash (maybe one incident per year, hundreds of deaths per incident) vs car crashes (40k/year)
  - jrflowers 5d ago
    Hmm yes. Two deaths, over a thousand hospitalizations, and not a single state in the US with zero cases, but those are just things that are real and happened which means they do not take into account things that didn’t happen or things you could imagine in your mind. If we simply envision a nation without diarrhea have we not eradicated it in our hearts, where it matters mos
    - alex43578 5d ago
      Absolutely hilarious that you think a small farm has any better hygiene than a large farm.
      - 5upplied_demand 5d ago
        Nobody said that, nor is it relevant. The point is if the food supply is more diversified, we are less exposed to single points of failure.
        5d ago
pixl97 5d ago
>Like what? https://www.npr.org/2026/07/09/nx-s1-5885008/department-of-justice-charges-three-major-egg-suppliers-with-price-fixing https://www.npr.org/2026/07/09/nx-s1-5885008/department-of-j... When consolidation happens collusion always follows, along with higher prices, and fines that are a tiny part of the total gain.

by gruez 5d ago

Grombobulous 5d ago

Google “taylor farms cyclospora” or “tyson beef prices shortage” for an example of the problems of highly consolidated processing. I wasn’t talking about private equity farms versus not, I’m generally talking about industry consolidation. Sanitation includes sewers which are typically municipal. Power and natural gas are legal monopolies with strict rules on pricing. There are also public electric utilities such as Cleveland Public Power.

gruez 5d ago
>Google “taylor farms cyclospora” or “tyson beef prices shortage” for an example of the problems of highly consolidated processing. I already addressed cyclospora in another comment, but how is consolidation or tyson beef supposed to be blamed for the shortage? Media reports blamed the shortage on droughts and/or screw worms, hardly a tyson issue. Not to mention tyson hasn't exactly been raking it in during all this shortage: >Yet despite record beef prices, the “Big Processors”, as Mr Trump calls them, are not thriving. Shares in Tyson, the largest, have tumbled by 40% since 2021—and by 7% since it cut its earnings forecast on September 3rd. It now expects its beef business, which brings in 40% of revenue, to lose as much as $775m this year. Trouble in the division has dragged the company’s overall operating margin down from 8.5% in 2021 to 2.6%. JBS, which is Brazilian, has said its North American business lost $427m in the first half of 2026. https://www.economist.com/business/2026/09/10/beef-has-never-been-pricier-and-meatpackers-are-suffering https://www.economist.com/business/2026/09/10/beef-has-never...

everfree 5d ago

> Like what? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foodborne_illness_outbreaks_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_foodborne_illness_outb... If a product isn't nationally consolidated, it can't have a national foodborne illness outbreak.

gruez 5d ago
>it can't have a national foodborne illness outbreak. Which is bad for PR and great for clicks, but it's entirely unclear whether we're better off on average. What about all the years where we didn't have a mass outbreak? Would it be better if every state/county had separate food supply chains, and they had the same rate of illness, but it's more randomly dispersed so it doesn't make it to national TV? Think the difference between airplane crash (maybe one incident per year, hundreds of deaths per incident) vs car crashes (40k/year)
- jrflowers 5d ago
  Hmm yes. Two deaths, over a thousand hospitalizations, and not a single state in the US with zero cases, but those are just things that are real and happened which means they do not take into account things that didn’t happen or things you could imagine in your mind. If we simply envision a nation without diarrhea have we not eradicated it in our hearts, where it matters mos
  - alex43578 5d ago
    Absolutely hilarious that you think a small farm has any better hygiene than a large farm.
    - 5upplied_demand 5d ago
      Nobody said that, nor is it relevant. The point is if the food supply is more diversified, we are less exposed to single points of failure.
      - 5d ago

pixl97 5d ago

>Like what? https://www.npr.org/2026/07/09/nx-s1-5885008/department-of-justice-charges-three-major-egg-suppliers-with-price-fixing https://www.npr.org/2026/07/09/nx-s1-5885008/department-of-j... When consolidation happens collusion always follows, along with higher prices, and fines that are a tiny part of the total gain.