Industrialization and Consolidation in the U.S. Food Sector: Implications for Competition and Welfare

Food processing, distribution, and retailing activities account for the majority of retail food and beverage costs for all major U.S. commodity groups, and the share of costs attributable to these marketing activities is rising over time. Consider, for example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “market basket ” of food products. The farm share of the market basket remained stable at about