Announcing the Launch of Food & Power, a New Publication on Monopoly Power in the Food System

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Open Markets Program at New America is launching Food & Power, a new resource on monopoly power in the food system for food policy experts, advocates, farmers, policymakers, and eaters. Food & Power provides original reporting and research on the ways economic concentration affects farmers, farm and food workers, eaters, and animals, as well as public health and the environment.

The site will provide an introductory look at how consolidation in the farming and food sectors affects citizens by degrading democratic institutions and fundamental rights to free speech and open markets. It will also investigate how Americans of previous generations kept their food and farming markets open and competitive.

The Food & Power team has recently investigated:

·       the overturn of corporate farming laws in Nebraska;

·       the proposal of an organic checkoff program;

·       the Kraft-Heinz merger;

·       and the growing power of soda companies.

Food & Power will be primarily edited by Leah Douglas, reporter and policy associate with Open Markets. Other authors who will contribute to the site include Lina Khan, fellow with Open Markets; Christopher Leonard, Schmidt Family Fellow at New America; and Barry C. Lynn, director of Open Markets. The site will also highlight the work of other researchers and reporters looking at consolidation and the effects of monopoly power in the food industry.

For more information, please contact Leah Douglas at douglas@newamerica.org.