About this event

In July of 2021, President Biden issued a sweeping executive order that directed multiple federal agencies to revive antitrust enforcement and promote competition throughout the U.S. economy.

The order dispatched the USDA, the FTC, and the DOJ to address monopoly power in the food and agriculture system. Successful completion of these objectives has the potential to tip the balance of power toward farmers, ranchers, and the American people. Now, nearly a year later, we will answer the question, what progress has been made?

On June 14, join advocates, policymakers, and members of the press at the Capitol Hill Hilton where Farm Action and the Open Markets Institute will release their Midterm Review of the Biden Administration's Commitment to Food System Competition — a report card on the Biden administration’s trustbusting efforts in food and agriculture.

To spotlight the importance and urgency of competition reform, the event will feature a video of first-person accounts from producers and small business owners spanning the country and the food supply chain, testifying to the on-the-ground impacts of food system concentration. Finally, a panel of farmers, ranchers, and food system experts will discuss the directives from the executive order most urgently in need of fulfillment and the consequences of continued inaction.

Agenda

Welcome

• Barry Lynn, Executive Director, Open Markets Institute

• Angela Huffman, Co-founder and Vice President, Farm Action

A Midterm Review of the Biden Administration's Commitment to Food System Competition

Report Card Presentation and Q&A

• Sarah Carden, Policy Advocate, Farm Action

• Claire Kelloway, Food Systems Program Manager, Open Markets Institute

On-the-Ground Impacts of a Consolidated Food System

Video Testimony

• Kara Brewer Boyd, Lumbee Tribe, Association of American Indian Farmers

• Darvin Bentlage, Missouri Rural Crisis Center

• Maria Payan, Socially Responsible Agriculture Project

• Rosa Saavedra, Rural Coalition, Compañeras Campesinas

• Sarah Lloyd, NelDell Farms, Columbia County Farmers Union

• Ed Maltby, Keets Croft Farm, Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance

• Kathryn Bedell, Roan Creek Ranch, Western Organization of Resource Councils

• Kevin O’Reilly, U.S. PIRG

• Barbara Shipman, Rural Coalition, Cottage House Incorporation, RRBG Farm

• Brett Kenzy, Kenzy Backgrounding, R-CALF USA

• Presented by Dee Laninga, Communications Director, Farm Action

The Need for Fair Competition Across the Supply Chain

Panel Discussion

• Ricardo Salvador, Director and Senior Scientist, Food & Environment Program, Union of Concerned Scientists, moderator

• Carrie Balkcom, Executive Director, American Grassfed Association

• John Boyd, Jr., Founder and President, National Black Farmers Association

• Michael Gay, Owner and Manager, Food Fresh

• Dennis Olson, Senior Research Associate & Policy Analyst, United Food and Commercial Workers International Union

Closing

• Barry Lynn, Executive Director, Open Markets Institute