As big retailers exploit their financial control over suppliers, independent grocers are being driven out, creating food deserts and driving up prices for everyone. In the New York Times, Stacy Mitchell calls on federal officials to revive the Robinson-Patman Act and restore fair competition in the warped landscape of the American food system.
Stacy Mitchell“To understand why grocery prices are way up, we need to look past the headlines about inflation and reconsider long-held ideas about the benefits of corporate bigness.”
If you like this post, be sure to sign up for the monthly Hometown Advantage newsletter for our latest reporting and research.
The decision to stop enforcing a single law decimated the independent grocery market and led to the dominance of big chains.
How a federal policy change in the 1980s created the modern food desert.
A bill in the Rhode Island House could level the state's grocery playing field, and encourage other states to join the fight against monopoly power.
In 203 markets, Walmart controls 50% or more of the grocery market. No other corporation has ever amassed this much control over the food system.