March, 31 2017, 02:30pm EDT
Organic Industry Watchdog Wins Major Antitrust Victory
France’s Groupe Danone Sheds Stonyfield in WhiteWave Acquisition
CORNUCOPIA, WI.
The French dairy giant, Groupe Danone (Dannon in the U.S.), has announced an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to liquidate its holdings in the largest manufacturer of organic yogurt, Stonyfield, so that its proposed acquisition of WhiteWave Foods can move forward. The original merger deal would have combined the world's largest organic yogurt brand, Stonyfield, with Wallaby, a rapidly growing organic yogurt label, and the nation's largest brand of organic milk, Horizon.
In August 2016 The Cornucopia Institute, an organic industry watchdog, formally challenged the acquisition based on forecasting the serious erosion of competition it would have created in the consumer marketplace and the negative economic impact it would have on U.S. organic dairy farmers.
"In our discussions with the DOJ, and dozens of reporters in the financial press who contacted us, the operative question had always been, short of regulators killing the deal, what moves could Danone take to placate our concerns?" said Mark A. Kastel, codirector at The Cornucopia Institute. "We openly questioned whether Danone was interested in WhiteWave because of its role in organic dairy, and the synergy of combining that with their existing holdings in Stonyfield, or if they were more interested in WhiteWave's dominance in the growing, and more profitable, 'plant-based' beverage category. This move seems to have addressed that uncertainty."
"As part of the agreement in principle with the DOJ, we made the strategic decision to divest Stonyfield as it allows us to take a major step towards completing the WhiteWave transition expeditiously," said Emmanuel Faber, Danone's CEO, in a company news release.
WhiteWave brands that Danone is acquiring are the top sellers in their categories. Horizon organic milk controls nearly 25% of the organic milk market, while their Silk brand is a leader in plant-based beverages.
Dairy has long been one of the most commercially successful product categories labeled as organic. In many households organic milk is among the first foods introduced to children. Following fruits and vegetables, organic dairy products are the second largest product segment in the industry. "As such a key part of the organic market, it is vital that competition remains open," said Marie Burcham, the lead Cornucopia researcher on this project.
The Cornucopia Institute made this argument in letters, on August 10 of last year, calling on the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission to treat the proposed merger as suspect. Cornucopia also launched a petition drive on their website and organized a letter campaign among U.S. organic dairy farmers, pushing for a full investigation of the proposed merger by federal regulators.
The market for organic dairy already has less competition than other agricultural sectors and is more susceptible to monopolization. "It was important that the authorities looked at the anti-competitive implications of the Danone-WhiteWave deal," said Burcham. "We asked that they consider the organic dairy and organic yogurt markets in particular as different and already more concentrated markets in comparison to Danone's other, non-organic market share."
Burcham, who in addition to her expertise in livestock agriculture is trained as an attorney in environmental law, added, "These are important considerations for determining whether an acquisition violates the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act for anti-competitive and anti-trust reasons."
Danone was already a majority shareholder of Stonyfield, the largest organic yogurt brand worldwide, and owns a 21% stake in the Lifeway organic kefir brand. Adding WhiteWave's Wallaby and Horizon Organic brand yogurts to Danone's existing market share would have allowed the dairy conglomerate to control a sizable slice of the U.S. organic market.
"This merger could have reduced options and raised prices for consumers without any positive impact on the quality of the products they are buying," said Cornucopia's Kastel. "With less competition, big companies commonly underpay independent farmers for their products, undermining the economic viability of small, family-scale farms. The organic community was wise to be very wary of this acquisition."
Kastel went on to explain that the multibillion-dollar acquisition could have seriously eroded wholesale competition in other, less obvious, ways.
The number two brand of organic milk in the marketplace, Organic Valley, is produced by a member-owned farmer cooperative that has been the longtime raw milk supplier to the Stonyfield yogurt brand. If, after its acquisition, Danone had decided to dump Organic Valley, a Horizon competitor, as a supplier, it could have left only one major purchaser of farm milk in some regions of the U.S., like New England.
Ironically, Organic Valley just launched a 50/50 joint venture with Dean Foods, the largest milk bottler in the United States, to process and market organic milk. Dean is the former parent of WhiteWave and has been without an organic offering since the spin-off of their former branded products division.
Under both Democratic and Republican administrations, antitrust enforcement in the U.S. has been anemic, at best, over the past two decades. However, decisions by the DOJ late in the Obama administration to scrutinize the Staples/Office Depot merger, and major proposed consolidations in the beer and healthcare industries, left organic dairy farmers optimistic that closer scrutiny of the Danone/WhiteWave deal was possible.
"The future trajectory of regulation on antitrust matters during the Trump presidency will likely become clearer going forward as they review deals proposed during the Obama administration and subsequent to Mr. Trump taking office," added Kastel.
The Cornucopia Institute, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit farm policy research group, is dedicated to the fight for economic justice for the family-scale farming community. Their Organic Integrity Project acts as a corporate and governmental watchdog assuring that no compromises to the credibility of organic farming methods and the food it produces are made in the pursuit of profit.
LATEST NEWS
Historian of Far-Right Issues Warning to Those 'Insufficiently Alarmed' by Trump
"What will you do if men in uniforms arrive in your neighborhood, and an immigrant neighbor gets a knock on the door and is led away in handcuffs?" asked Rick Perlstein.
Oct 31, 2024
An American historian who has published
thousands of pages on the nation's conservative movement—spanning from the failed candidacy of Barry Goldwater to the rise of Ronald Reagan—penned a warning Wednesday to anyone who may be inclined to downplay the threat posed by Republican nominee Donald Trump.
"What will you do if men in uniforms arrive in your neighborhood, and an immigrant neighbor gets a knock on the door and is led away in handcuffs?" Rick Perlstein writes at the start of his column for The American Prospect, referring to Trump's vow to round up and deport millions of undocumented immigrants. "Or if the uniforms are not police uniforms, and there is not even a knock?"
The rest of the column follows that format, with Rick Perlstein outlining nightmarish—and all-too-plausible—scenarios that could result from a Trump victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in next week's election and asking Americans to contemplate how they would respond.
"What if the knock is for your daughter, and they're coming for her because of a pill that she took? Will you open the door?" Perlstein asks. "Or if your teenage granddaughter, alone and afraid, calls you and begs you to drive her to a state where abortion is legal? Your governor has signed a bill making such 'abortion trafficking' illegal, stipulating a penalty of 15 years."
In the wake of Trump's 2016 election victory, Perlstein acknowledged that he and other historians failed to anticipate the former president's ascent to dominance within the Republican Party. Now, Perlstein and other leading historians are sounding the alarm, describing Trump and the far-right movement propelling his campaign as a fascist threat to U.S. democracy and the world.
"What if you are in the army, and are ordered to the border to transport children to deportation camps? Or shoot peaceful protesters?" Perlstein wrote Wednesday. "How about if you're a worker beein the office of a Republican prosecutor who follows the call of Stephen Miller after Donald Trump's criminal conviction to use '[e]very facet of Republican Party politics and power' to 'go toe-to-toe with Marxism and beat those Communists'? Your boss presents you his draft of a frivolous indictment of a Democratic officeholder, say for some fantastical accusation of supposed 'electoral fraud.' He asks you to draft the indictment. What do you do?"
The historian continued:
Or consider the scenario related to The New Republic's Greg Sargent by a senior Department of Labor official: evaluating a proposed regulation for a federal safety standard protecting workers in outdoor jobs from the increasingly prevalent risk of fatalities from heatstroke; "loyalists installed in key positions could easily ensure that quality science on the impact of heat on workers is ignored or downplayed during later stages of the rulemaking process. Meanwhile, career government officials—suddenly more vulnerable to firing—would surely hesitate to challenge or expose political appointees who are manipulating the process."
Say that career official is you. Do you risk your job? Or do you choose complicity?
Donald Trump is elected president.
What are you prepared to do?
Those are just some of what Perlstein described as the "life-changing choices we may be forced to make if Donald Trump wins" the November 5 election, which is—if polling is to be believed—razor close.
Perlstein wrote on social media that his column was meant for readers to send to their "insufficiently alarmed friends" in the final days of the 2024 campaign.
Perlstein's column was published just days after a Trump campaign rally at Madison Square Garden that drew comparisons to the Nazi rally held at that same venue in 1939.
Fascism, according to historian Kathleen Belew, was "on full display" at Trump's rally—an alarming indication of what's to come in a possible second term.
In an interview with The Real News Network on Wednesday, Perlstein warned that some "are in denial" about the danger Trump and his allies represent.
"There's a lot of waking up that has to happen," said Perlstein, warning of the prospect of right-wing violence in the aftermath of the election given Trump's false narrative that "Democrats can't win an honest election so they always cheat."
"So one thing we have to be prepared for is the confusion that they're going to try and sow in the event they don't get the most electoral votes. And one of the kinds of complicity that they're hoping for is that the elites basically give up in the interest of order," Perlstein said. "People who should know better are not accepting what's happening."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Mehdi Hasan Warns Bigots Like the One Who Attacked Him Could Soon 'Be in Charge of US Foreign Policy'
If Donald Trump wins next week's election, the journalist said, violent racists "will be emboldened like never before."
Oct 31, 2024
Journalist Mehdi Hasan responded at length Wednesday to a bigoted attack he faced from a fellow CNN panelist earlier this week, warning that the kinds of people who would incite violence against a Palestinian rights advocate on live television could soon be in charge of U.S. foreign policy if Republican nominee Donald Trump wins the November 5 election.
Hasan, the founder of Zeteo, said he has never in 25 years of working in media "been so stunned" as he was when Ryan Girdusky—a right-wing commentator and Trump supporter—said that "I hope your beeper doesn't go off" after Hasan expressed support for Palestinian rights.
Girdusky's remark, which referenced a mid-September Israeli attack in Lebanon and Syria that killed dozens of people—including children—underscored "how bold these MAGA Republicans have become in their racism," Hasan said in his video response Wednesday.
While welcoming CNN's decision to ban Girdusky from the network, Hasan warned that such bigots "will be emboldened like never before" if Trump defeats Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in next week's election.
"They won't just be running their mouths on TV panels against public figures like me," said Hasan. "They'll be at your kids' school gate. They'll be at your grocery store. They'll be in your subway car proudly and shamelessly saying this stuff to you, too. They'll also be in charge of U.S. foreign policy, egging on Israel to do more beeper attacks, even more acts of terror, egging on Trump and [Republican vice presidential nominee JD] Vance to be more racist, more violent both at home and abroad."
Watch Hasan's full response:
"As shocked and stunned as I was, there was no way I was going to let him say that to me, unchallenged."
My response to the racism & incitement on Monday, to a CNN pro-Trump panelist telling me: “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off," because I said I supported Palestinian rights. pic.twitter.com/GJCAC1vAKd
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) October 30, 2024
Hasan called the November 5 contest between Trump and Harris "the most consequential election of our lifetimes" and said that "genocide is on the ballot," criticizing the Democratic vice president for refusing to distance herself from President Joe Biden's unwavering support for Israel's assault on Gaza.
"But also, fascism plus genocide is on the ballot," said Hasan, pointing to Trump's authoritarian ambitions and open support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Trump praised for "doing a good job" in Gaza, where Israeli forces have killed more than 43,000 people in just over a year—a majority of them women, children, and elderly.
"I'm in no mood to explain myself to the racists and bullies," Hasan said Wednesday. "But I will continue to speak out, I will continue to do the work, and so should you."
Author and activist Naomi Klein voiced agreement with Hasan's analysis of the dire state of U.S. politics and his warning that the situation could deteriorate further, writing on social media: "Some claim things cannot get worse. They absolutely can."
"Look to any country where the prisons are bursting with political prisoners. There is no shame in voting against even worse," Klein wrote. "Fascists triumph when we lose our capacity to think strategically."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Experts Sound Alarm Over Trump's Promise to Let RFK Jr. 'Control' Health Agencies
"RFK Jr. is an anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist," said one scientist. "A Trump win will be an absolute catastrophe for public health."
Oct 30, 2024
Public health experts reacted with alarm Wednesday to reports that former President Donald Trump promised anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. control over federal agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Agriculture should the Republican nominee defeat Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in next week's election.
Speaking at last week's bigotry-laden campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, Trump said that if he wins, he'll let Kennedy—who in August suspended his Independent presidential campaign and endorsed the GOP nominee—"go wild on health."
"I'm gonna let him go wild on the foods," Trump vowed. "I'm gonna let him go wild on the medicines."
In a video posted Tuesday on social media, Kennedy said that the GOP nominee promised him control of the Health and Human Services Department, Department of Agriculture, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health, "and a few others."
Kennedy said control of these agencies "is key to making America healthy, because we've got to get off of seed oils, and we've got to get off of pesticide-intensive agriculture."
Despite his stated interest in tackling major public health issues including government corruption and Big Pharma greed, experts warned that, as Columbia University molecular biologist Lucky Tran
said earlier this week: "RFK Jr is an anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist. A Trump win will be an absolute catastrophe for public health."
Kennedy is arguably the world's leading proponent of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, including that vaccines cause autism. He has mixed spurious disparagement of the safety and efficacy of vaccines, including for Covid-19, with attacks on the well-documented deadly greed of the pharmaceutical industry.
There is some ideological overlap between Trump and Kennedy—who, like the ex-president is a former Democrat—including the shared belief in defunding federal public health agencies, purging their ranks, and investigating and possibly prosecuting some of their employees.
"If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags," Kennedy recently
wrote on social media.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular