CANNON FALLS, Minn. — The U.S. Justice Department antitrust division will continue its comprehensive approach to antitrust enforcement, and this week it learned directly from those impacted by corporate consolidation in Minnesota.
Jonathan Kanter, Assistant Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division was in attendance on Oct. 23 for a Minnesota Farmers Union, Mitchell Hamline Antitrust Society and MSBA Antitrust Law Section antitrust symposium at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law.
"We are seeing more law schools and students across the country who are interested in these issues, who cared deeply about these issues," Kanter said of the antitrust symposium.
The day after, Kanter met with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and his staff to talk about how they can work together on antitrust enforcement at the state and federal levels, before he met with state legislators.
"The Minnesota State Legislature has been really at the forefront and innovative in its agenda with respect to competition and antitrust enforcement," Kanter said.
He also met with people across the state impacted by corporate concentration, including a visit to Cherry Valley Farm in Cannon Falls, where Danny and Mary Lundell raise corn and soybeans.
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"One of the things that we need to do better at the federal levels, is make sure that we are connecting with the real needs of people who want to build, work, and thrive in their local areas," Kanter said.
The Lundell family used to buy fertilizer from a small town company called Kenyan Ag, just south of their farm.
"Now that's part of Ag Partners," Mary Lundell said. "Where we would buy our gas and our diesel for the farm was from Cenex in Cannon Falls, and then that closed, and so it was Cenex out of Wanamingo, and now that's gone, and it's Ag Partners, again."
And when it's time to sell, the closest market available to them is also Ag Partners. Ag Partners is a member-owned cooperative serving producers, communities, homeowners and businesses across southern Minnesota and western Wisconsin.
"All these small little co-ops are gone, and it's now one big company," Lundell said. "You really notice that when you start thinking about it."
Anne Schwagerl, MFU's vice president, explained how corporate consolidation impacts her family's farm. Schwagerl and her husband, Peter, own and operate a diversified grain and livestock operation near Browns Valley in Big Stone County, where they manage around 400 acres and grow certified organic corn, soybeans and small grains as well as operate a pastured pork operation.
"Corporate monopolies and consolidation, especially in agriculture, are affecting real people and real farmers every day," she said. "This week, we had to drive 100 miles — one way — to pick up a part for our combine, in the middle of harvest."
She said they were then charged a "handling fee," simply for the business holding the part.
"That's the kind of thing that really makes it feel like death by 1,000 cuts to the American farmer," Schwagerl said. "We pay retail prices for all of our inputs, and we sell our outputs at wholesale. We're squeezed on every end, every year."
Justin Stofferahn, anti-monopoly director for MFU, said the organization has been working with Ellison's office as well as legislators on various reforms to the state's antitrust laws, to give the Attorney General stronger tools of enforcement.
"There's a lot that we can do at the state level to complement the work that the Department of Justice and the Biden administration are doing," Stofferahn said.
In the 2024 legislative session, MFU will push for antitrust reforms through a package of bills that are meant to improve and update Minnesota’s antitrust tools to better protect farmers, workers and small businesses, according to Stofferahn.
MFU'S "Corporate Monopoly in Minnesota" memo includes the following:
SF1744/HF1563 — The legislation establishes thresholds for dominance in a marketplace either through market share or direct evidence of market dominance such as the unilateral power to set prices. Dominant corporations, or a group of dominant corporations, would be prohibited from engaging in anticompetitive behavior that eliminates current competitors or deters the entry of new competitors in a market.
SF1070/HF399 — Strengthen Minnesota’s price discrimination protections by replacing current law with language from the federal Robinson-Patman Act (RPA). Price discrimination is charging different prices to different customers for the same size or quantity of an item with the effect of reducing competition. This practice has been used by large retailers to crush smaller businesses. This bill would also make it easier for the Attorney General to coordinate multi-state enforcement with states that have adopted RPA language.
SF1069/HF398 — Make important updates to Minnesota’s antitrust law including a significant update to the penalties for violating the law, which have remained flat since 1971. The bill would also clarify the Attorney General’s existing authority by creating definitions of monopoly power and monopsony power (the buyer side of monopoly power).
Right to Repair — While Minnesota now has the most comprehensive right to repair law in the country, it excludes farm equipment. This means farmers still lack the right to repair their stuff without having to use the repair services dictated by equipment manufacturers.
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