Dear Readers,
Happy New Year!
We are what we eat. Farmers produce what we eat. But times are hard today for many farmers throughout the world. In the United States, for example, some farmers are going bankrupt at shocking record rates. In such an economic environment, a CPI Chronicle dedicated to agriculture and antitrust could not be more timely or relevant.
This Chronicle examines current competition and antitrust enforcement in agricultural markets both internationally and in the U.S. International discussions include China’s evolving reviews, under its Anti-Monopoly Law, of agricultural sector mergers; Poland’s recent efforts to enforce fair trading laws within its agricultural and feed supply markets; Colombia’s aggressive enforcement of its antitrust laws in the agricultural sector, and the tensions these enforcement actions have generated.
In the U.S., our topics include the competitive impacts of ongoing consolidation in the agricultural biotechnology market; how information exchanges between agricultural sector companies can negatively impact competition; the anticompetitive impacts of John Deere’s “Right to Repair” rules, especially in the digital agricultural information sector; and how reduced antitrust enforcement has negatively impacted farming communities.
We hope you enjoy this diverse collection of essays.
As always, thank you to our terrific panel of authors.
Sincerely,
CPI Team
Thomas J. Horton
Professor of Law, University of South Dakota
CPI Guest Editor
