Wisconsin Attorney General Joins Other AGs Working on Anticompetitive Practices in Agriculture

Tuesday, July 25th, 2023 -- 12:00 PM

(By Hope Kirwan, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has joined a group of state attorneys general working with federal officials on anticompetitive practices in agriculture.

According to Hope Kirwan with Wisconsin Public Radio, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the launch of the Agricultural Competition partnership last week. Kaul is one of 31 attorneys general participating in the new program, along with officials from Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota.

The initiative will focus on identifying market structures and practices that are hurting competition among farmers, food processors, farm suppliers and other related industries. The program will also look for instances of price gouging and other retail practices that hurt consumers.

The partnership hopes to expand state officials' ability to assess competition and consumer issues on the ground, as well as invest in independent research on markets. Kaul said having only a few consolidated suppliers for certain products like seeds has a real impact on Wisconsin farmers.

"They don't have as much choice and their costs can be artificially inflated," he said. "That hurts everybody when they go to the grocery store, and particularly at a time when we're dealing with inflation issues."

Kaul did not name a specific sector of agriculture as a potential focus for his office, but said he hopes to hear from people in the industry about where they see impacts. "What we're really focused on is areas where there are potential violations, whether it's price gouging, or there are conflicts of interest or misuse of intellectual property," he said. "Wherever those issues are arising, that's where we want to focus our efforts."

Kaul said having access to funding through USDA will improve his office's ability to respond in these cases. A letter sent by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last September said the partnership could use up to $15 million in federal funding.

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