I
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3159
To impose a moratorium on large agribusiness mergers and to establish
a commission to review large agriculture mergers, concentration, and
market power.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
OCTOBER 27, 1999
Mr. POMEROY (for himself, Mr. MINGE, and Ms. BALDWIN) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agriculture, and
in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To impose a moratorium on large agribusiness mergers and
to establish a commission to review large agriculture
mergers, concentration, and market power.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Agribusiness Merger
Moratorium and Antitrust Review Act of 1999’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Concentration in the agricultural economy
including mergers, acquisitions, and other combina-
tions and alliances among suppliers, producers,
packers, other food processors, and distributors has
been accelerating at a rapid pace in the 1990’s.
(2) The trend toward greater concentration in
agriculture has important and far-reaching implica-
tions not only for family-based farmers, but also for
the food we eat, the communities we live in, and the
integrity of the natural environment upon which we
all depend.
(3) In the past decade and a half, the top 4
largest pork packers have seized control of some 57
percent of the market, up from 36 percent. Over the
same period, the top 4 beef packers have expanded
their market share from 32 percent to 80 percent,
the top 4 flour millers have increased their market
share from 40 percent to 62 percent, and the market
share of the top 4 soybean crushers has jumped
from 54 percent to 80 percent.
(4) Today the top 4 sheep, poultry, wet corn,
and dry corn processors now control 73 percent, 55
percent, 74 percent, and 57 percent of the market,
respectively.
(5) A handful of firms dominate the processing
of every major commodity. Many of them are
vertically integrated, which means that they control
successive stages of the food chain, from inputs to
production to distribution.
(6) Growing concentration of the agricultural
sector has restricted choices for farmers trying to
sell their products. As the bargaining power of agri-
business firms over farmers increases, agricultural
commodity markets are becoming stacked against
the farmer.
(7) The farmer’s share of every retail dollar has
plummeted from around 50 percent in 1952, to less
than 25 percent today, while the profit share for
farm input, marketing, and processing companies
has risen.
(8) While agribusiness conglomerates are post-
ing record earnings, farmers are facing desperate
times. The commodity price index is the lowest since
1987. Hog prices are at their lowest since 1972.
Cotton and soybean prices are the lowest they have
been since the early 1970’s.
(9) The benefits of low commodity prices are
not being passed on to American consumers. The
gap between what shoppers pay for food and what
farmers are paid is growing wider. From 1984 to
1998, prices paid to farmers fell 36 percent, while
consumer food prices actually increased by 3 per-
cent.
(10) Concentration, low prices, anticompetitive
practices, and other manipulations and abuses of the
agricultural economy are driving family-based farm-
ers out of business. Farmers are going bankrupt or
giving up, and few are taking their places; more
farm families are having to rely on other jobs to stay
afloat; and the number of farmers leaving the land
will continue to increase unless and until these
trends are reversed.
(11) The decline of family-based agriculture un-
dermines the economies of rural communities across
America; it has pushed Main Street businesses, from
equipment suppliers to insurance sales people, out of
business or to the brink of insolvency.
(12) Increased concentration in the agribusiness
sector has a harmful effect on the environment; cor-
porate hog farming, for example, threatens the in-
tegrity of local water supplies and creates noxious
odors in neighboring communities. Concentration
also can increase the risks to food safety and limit
the biodiversity of plants and animals.
(13) The decline of family-based farming poses
a direct threat to American families and family val-
ues, by subjecting farm families to turmoil and
stress.
(14) The decline of family-based farming causes
the demise of rural communities, as stores lose cus-
tomers, churches lose congregations, schools and
clinics become under-used, career opportunities for
young people dry up, and local inequalities of wealth
and income grow wider.
(15) These developments are not the result of
inevitable market forces. Its problems arise rather
from policies made in Washington, including farm,
antitrust, and trade policies.
(16) To restore competition in the agricultural
economy, and to increase the bargaining power and
enhance economic prospects for family-based farm-
ers, the trend toward concentration must be re-
versed.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) BROKER.—The term ‘‘broker’’ means any
person engaged in the business of negotiating sales
and purchases of any agricultural commodity in
interstate or foreign commerce for or on behalf of
the vendor or the purchaser, except that no person
shall be considered a broker if the only sales of such
commodities are for a value less than $10,000,000
per year.
(2) COMMISSION MERCHANT.—The term ‘‘com-
mission merchant’’ means any person engaged in the
business of receiving in interstate or foreign com-
merce any agricultural commodity for sale, on com-
mission, or for or on behalf of another, except that
no person shall be considered a commission mer-
chant if the only sales of such commodities are for
a value less than $10,000,000 per year.
(3) DEALER.—The term ‘‘dealer’’ means any
person engaged in the business of buying, selling, or
marketing agricultural commodities in interstate or
foreign commerce, except that—
(A) no person shall be considered a dealer
with respect to sales or marketing of any agri-
cultural commodity of that person’s own
raising; and
(B) no person shall be considered a dealer
if the only sales of such commodities are for a
value less than $10,000,000 per year.
(4) AGRICULTURAL
INPUT
SUPPLIER.—The
term ‘‘agricultural input supplier’’ means any person
engaged in the business of selling, in interstate or
foreign commerce, any product to be used as an
input (including seed, germ plasm, hormones, anti-
biotics, fertilizer, and chemicals, but excluding farm
machinery) for the production of any agricultural
commodity, except that no person shall be consid-
ered an agricultural input supplier if sales of such
products are for a value less than $10,000,000 per
year.
(5) PROCESSOR.—The term ‘‘processor’’ means
any person engaged in the business of handling, pre-
paring, or manufacturing (including slaughtering) of
an agricultural commodity, or the products of such
agricultural commodity, for sale or marketing for
human consumption, except that no person shall be
considered a processor if the only sales of such prod-
ucts are for a value less than $10,000,000 per year.
TITLE 
I—MORATORIUM 
ON
LARGE AGRIBUSINESS MERG-
ERS
SEC. 101. MORATORIUM ON LARGE AGRIBUSINESS MERG-
ERS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—
(1) MORATORIUM.—Until the date referred to
in paragraph (2) and except as provided in sub-
section (b)—
(A) no dealer, processor, commission mer-
chant, agricultural input supplier, broker, or
operator of a warehouse of agricultural com-
modities with annual net sales or total assets of
more than $100,000,000 shall merge or ac-
quire, directly or indirectly, any voting securi-
ties or assets of any other dealer, processor,
commission merchant, agricultural input sup-
plier, broker, or operator of a warehouse of ag-
ricultural commodities with annual net sales or
total assets of more than $10,000,000; and
(B) no dealer, processor, commission mer-
chant, agricultural input supplier, broker, or
operator of a warehouse of agricultural com-
modities with annual net sales or total assets of
more than $10,000,000 shall merge or acquire,
directly or indirectly, any voting securities or
assets of any other dealer, processor, commis-
sion merchant, agricultural input supplier,
broker, or operator of a warehouse of agricul-
tural commodities with annual net sales or total
assets of more than $100,000,000 if the acquir-
ing person would hold—
(i) 15 percent or more of the voting
securities or assets of the acquired person;
or
(ii) an aggregate total amount of the
voting securities and assets of the acquired
person in excess of $15,000,000.
(2) DATE.—The date referred to in this para-
graph is the earlier of—
(A) the effective date of comprehensive
legislation—
(i) addressing the problem of market
concentration in the agricultural sector;
and
(ii) containing a section stating that
the legislation is comprehensive legislation
as provided in section 101 of the Agri-
business Merger Moratorium and Antitrust
Review Act of 1999; or
(B) the date that is 18 months after the
date of enactment of this Act.
(b) EXCEPTIONS.—
(1) WAIVER AUTHORITY.—The Attorney Gen-
eral shall have authority to waive the moratorium
imposed by subsection (a) only under extraordinary
circumstances, such as insolvency or similar finan-
cial distress of 1 of the affected parties.
(2) COOPERATIVE
ASSOCIATIONS.—Subsection
(a) shall not apply to a cooperative association (as
defined in section 15(a) of the Agricultural Mar-
keting Act (12 U.S.C. 1141j(a)) or to an entity
owned by a cooperative association.
TITLE 
II—AGRICULTURE 
CON-
CENTRATION 
AND 
MARKET
POWER REVIEW COMMISSION
SEC. 201. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a com-
mission to be known as the Agriculture Concentration and
Market Power Review Commission (hereafter in this title
referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’).
(b) PURPOSES.—The purpose of the Commission is
to—
(1) study the nature and consequences of con-
centration in America’s agricultural economy; and
(2) make recommendations on how to change
underlying antitrust laws and other Federal laws
and regulations to keep a fair and competitive agri-
culture marketplace for family farmers, other small
and medium sized agriculture producers, generally,
and the communities of which they are a part.
(c) MEMBERSHIP OF COMMISSION.—
(1) COMPOSITION.—The Commission shall be
composed of 12 members as follows:
(A) Three persons, one of whom shall be a
person currently engaged in farming or ranch-
ing, shall be appointed by the President pro
tempore of the Senate upon the recommenda-
tion of the Majority Leader of the Senate, after
consultation with the Chairman of the Com-
mittee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
(B) Three persons, one of whom shall be
a person currently engaged in farming or
ranching, shall be appointed by the President
pro tempore of the Senate upon the rec-
ommendation of the Minority Leader of the
Senate, after consultation with the ranking mi-
nority member of the Committee on Agri-
culture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
(C) Three persons, one of whom shall be a
person currently engaged in farming or ranch-
ing, shall be appointed by the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, after consultation
with the Chairman of the Committee on Agri-
culture.
(D) Three persons, one of whom shall be
a person currently engaged in farming or
ranching, shall be appointed by the Minority
Leader of the House of Representatives, after
consultation with the ranking minority member
of the Committee on Agriculture.
(2) QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS.—
(A) APPOINTMENTS.—Persons who are ap-
pointed under paragraph (1) shall be persons
who—
(i) have experience in farming or
ranching, expertise in agricultural econom-
ics and antitrust, or have other pertinent
qualifications or experience relating to ag-
riculture and agriculture industries; and
(ii) are not officers or employees of
the United States.
(B) OTHER CONSIDERATION.—In appoint-
ing Commission members, every effort shall be
made to ensure that the members—
(i) are representative of a broad cross
sector of agriculture and antitrust perspec-
tives within the United States; and
(ii) provide fresh insights to analyzing
the causes and impacts of concentration in
agriculture industries and sectors.
(d) PERIOD OF APPOINTMENT; VACANCIES.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Members shall be appointed
not later than 60 days after the date of enactment
of this Act and the appointment shall be for the life
of the Commission.
(2) VACANCIES.—Any vacancy in the Commis-
sion shall not affect its powers, but shall be filled in
the same manner as the original appointment.
(e) INITIAL MEETING.—Not later than 30 days after
the date on which all members of the Commission have
been appointed, the Commission shall hold its first meet-
ing.
(f) MEETINGS.—The Commission shall meet at the
call of the Chairperson.
(g) CHAIRPERSON AND VICE CHAIRPERSON.—The
members of the Commission shall elect a chairperson and
vice chairperson from among the members of the Commis-
sion.
(h) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of the
Commission shall constitute a quorum for the transaction
of business.
(i) VOTING.—Each member of the Commission shall
be entitled to 1 vote, which shall be equal to the vote of
every other member of the Commission.
SEC. 202. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall be respon-
sible for examining the nature, the causes, and con-
sequences concentration in America’s agricultural econ-
omy in the broadest possible terms.
(b) ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED.—The study shall in-
clude an examination of the following matters:
(1) The nature and extent of concentration in
the agricultural sector, including food production,
transportation, processing, distribution and mar-
keting, and farm inputs such as machinery, fer-
tilizer, and seeds.
(2) Current trends in concentration of the agri-
cultural sector and what this sector is likely to look
like in the near and longer term future.
(3) The effect of this concentration on farmer
income.
(4) The impacts of this concentration upon
rural communities, rural economic development, and
the natural environment.
(5) The impacts of this concentration upon food
shoppers, including the reasons that Depression-level
farm prices have not resulted in corresponding drops
in supermarket prices.
(6) The productivity of family-based farm units,
compared with corporate based agriculture, and
whether farming is approaching a scale that is larg-
er than necessary from the standpoint of produc-
tivity.
(7) The effect of current laws and administra-
tive practices in supporting and encouraging this
concentration.
(8) Whether the existing antitrust laws provide
adequate safeguards against, and remedies for, the
impacts of concentration upon family-based agri-
culture, the communities they comprise, and the
food shoppers of this Nation.
(9) Accurate and reliable data on the national
and international markets shares of multinational
agribusinesses, and the portion of their sales attrib-
utable to exports.
(10) Barriers that inhibit entry of new competi-
tors into markets for the processing of agricultural
commodities, such as the meat packing industry.
(11) The extent to which developments, such as
formula pricing, marketing agreements, and forward
contracting tend to give processors, agribusinesses,
and other buyers of agricultural commodities addi-
tional market power over producers and suppliers in
local markets.
(12) Such related matters as the Commission
determines to be important.
SEC. 203. FINAL REPORT.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 12 months after
the date of the initial meeting of the Commission, the
Commission shall submit to the President and Congress
a final report which contains—
(1) the findings and conclusions of the Commis-
sion described in section 202; and
(2) recommendations for addressing the prob-
lems identified as part of the Commission’s analysis.
(b) SEPARATE VIEWS.—Any member of the Commis-
sion may submit additional findings and recommendations
as part of the final report.
SEC. 204. POWERS OF COMMISSION.
(a) HEARINGS.—The Commission may hold such
hearings, sit and act at such times and places, take such
testimony, and receive such evidence as the Commission
may find advisable to fulfill the requirements of this title.
The Commission shall hold at least 1 or more hearings
in Washington, D.C., and 4 in different agriculture re-
gions of the United States.
(b) INFORMATION FROM FEDERAL AGENCIES.—The
Commission may secure directly from any Federal depart-
ment or agency such information as the Commission con-
siders necessary to carry out the provisions of this title.
Upon request of the Chairperson of the Commission, the
head of such department or agency shall furnish such in-
formation to the Commission.
(c) POSTAL SERVICES.—The Commission may use
the United States mails in the same manner and under
the same conditions as other departments and agencies of
the Federal Government.
SEC. 205. COMMISSION PERSONNEL MATTERS.
(a) COMPENSATION OF MEMBERS.—Each member of
the Commission shall be compensated at a rate equal to
the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay pre-
scribed for level IV of the Executive Schedule under sec-
tion 5315 of title 5, United States Code, for each day (in-
cluding travel time) during which such member is engaged
in the performance of the duties of the Commission.
(b) TRAVEL EXPENSES.—The members of the Com-
mission shall be allowed travel expenses, including per
diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates authorized for employ-
ees of agencies under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title
5, United States Code, while away from their homes or
regular places of business in the performance of services
for the Commission.
(c) STAFF.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Chairperson of the
Commission may, without regard to the civil service
laws and regulations, appoint and terminate an exec-
utive director and such other additional personnel as
may be necessary to enable the Commission to per-
form its duties. The employment of an executive di-
rector shall be subject to confirmation by the Com-
mission.
(2) COMPENSATION.—The Chairperson of the
Commission may fix the compensation of the execu-
tive director and other personnel without regard to
the provisions of chapter 51 and subchapter III of
chapter 53 of title 5, United States Code, relating
to classification of positions and General Schedule
pay rates, except that the rate of pay for the execu-
tive director and other personnel may not exceed the
rate payable for level V of the Executive Schedule
under section 5316 of such title.
(d) DETAIL
OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES.—Any
Federal Government employee shall be detailed to the
Commission without reimbursement, and such detail shall
be without interruption or loss of civil service status or
privilege.
(e) PROCUREMENT OF TEMPORARY AND INTERMIT-
TENT SERVICES.—The Chairperson of the Commission
may procure temporary and intermittent services under
section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code, at rates
for individuals which do not exceed the daily equivalent
of the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level V of
the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of such title.
SEC. 206. SUPPORT SERVICES.
The Administrator of the General Services Adminis-
tration shall provide to the Commission on a reimbursable
basis such administrative support services as the Commis-
sion may request.
SEC. 207. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.
There are authorized to be appropriated $2,000,000
to the Commission as required by this title to carry out
the provisions of this title.
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