Alabama Workshop to Focus on Poultry Antitrust Issues

The second scheduled workshop on competition issues in agriculture will explore issues relative to the U.S. poultry industry and is set for May 21 in Normal, Ala.

The second scheduled workshop on competition issues in agriculture will explore issues relative to the U.S. poultry industry and is set for May 21 in Normal, Ala. USDA and the Department of Justice are co-sponsoring the workshop that have been scheduled at a number of sites across the country, with the topics geared toward agricultural production surrounding each site.

According to the site to register for the Alabama event, "The workshop will address the dynamics of competition in poultry. It will examine legal doctrines and jurisprudence, as well as current economic learning, and will provide an opportunity for farmers, ranchers, consumer groups, processors, agribusiness, and other interested parties to provide examples of potentially anticompetitive conduct and to discuss any concerns about the application of the antitrust laws to the agricultural sectors."

And the Alabama workshop could also potentially attract high-profile media attention as U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will be in attendance at this session. Besides Holder, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division Christine Varney will participate.

Overall, the goals of the workshops, according to DOJ, are to "address the dynamics of competition in agriculture markets, including buyer power (monopsony) and vertical integration. They will examine legal doctrines and jurisprudence, as well as current economic learning, and will provide an opportunity for farmers, ranchers, consumer groups, processors, agribusiness, and other interested parties to provide examples of potentially anticompetitive conduct and to discuss any concerns about the application of the antitrust laws to the agricultural sectors."

There are reports that the National Chicken Council will soon release a study regarding competition in the industry, a development likely timed for the upcoming workshop. 

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