In the agriculture and food economy sector, the four largest companies controlled 82 percent of the
SOURCE:The Economic Cost of Food Monopolies, Food and Water Watch, November 2012. http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/CostofFoodMonopolies.pdf"In most sectors of the U.S. economy, our largest firms control between 40 and 45 percent of the market, and many economists maintain that higher levels of concentration can start to erode competitiveness. Yet according to data compiled by the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2012, in the agriculture and food sector, the four largest companies controlled 82 percent of the beef packing industry, 85 percent of soybean processing, 63 percent of pork packing, and 53 percent of broiler chicken processing."[From the website promo for the report]------------SOURCE FOR FOLLOWING: " Putting the Cartel before the Horse...and Farm, Seeds, Soil, Peasants, etc. Who Will Control Agriculture, 2013?" ETC Group, 2013.FROM THE PRESS RELEASE.ETC’s report shows that the same six multinational firms (Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, Bayer, Dow, and BASF) control 75% of all private sector plant breeding research, 60% of the commercial seed market (100% of the transgenic seed market) and 76% of global agrochemical sales."The Economic Cost of Food Monopolies," Food and Water Watch, November 2012. http://documents.foodandwaterwatch.org/doc/CostofFoodMonopolies.pdf"Putting the Cartel before the Horse...and Farm, Seeds, Soil, Peasants, etc. Who Will Control Agriculture, 2013?" (Canada: ETC Group, 2013). http://www.etcgroup.org/putting_the_cartel_before_the_horse_2013