The best way to do this is to give USDA the tools it needs to stand-up for the family farmer, including the right to challenge a merger in federal court.
Healthy competition keeps the marketplace honest.
Grassley's plan would give USDA the ability to challenge an agri-business merger if it believes that it would cause substantial harm to the ability of family farmers to compete in the market. Grassley said his bill would give USDA the resources it needs to handle this new authority. Grassley has been working to ensure the federal government weigh the effect of concentration on the family farmer and small independent producer, as well as rural communities. In 1998, he asked antitrust regulators and enforcers at the Justice Department to begin evaluating any disproportionately negative impact on rural America brought on by the concentration trend. Grassley also helped to bring the top antitrust official from the Justice Department to Iowa to gain a better understanding of the effect of agribusiness concentration.