Much of this is an antitrust problem.

The inputs to farming, especially seeds, fertilizer and machinery, are controlled by monopolies and near-monopolies. There have been too many mergers.

On the sell side, there's monopsony or near-monopsony, with very few big buyers.[1] Farmers are caught in the middle, with little pricing power on either side.

There's not much question about this. There are antitrust cases, but with weak penalties and weak enforcement.

[1] https://equitablegrowth.org/competitive-edge-big-ags-monopso...

▲ cik 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

No, much of this is a political issue. America wants food standards that are different from many trading partners; fair enough. But it makes it impossible to export many farm goods as a result. This is outside of the current political climate, and has been going on for ages. It's just coming it a head now.

▲ unglaublich 4 hours ago | parent [-]

People outside of the US look down on inferior products like HFCS, bleached chicken, hormones used in beef cattle, prevalence of GM crops, the preventive use of antibiotics in poultry, hen battery cages, and permissive-by-default use of additives.

If at least all those bad farming practices would lead to very affordable food, then one could make an argument for it... but currently the US just does worst of two worlds.

▲ dathinab 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Interesting Side Note: bleached/chlorinated chicken

The things which makes this a no go in the EU is ironically not the chlorination per-se, but the fact that chlorination is needed.

Like basically the EU thinks the way the US allows farmers to keep and raise chickens is so bad/unsanitary that chlorinating them isn't sufficient to make them safe for (repeated) consumption.

Which makes sense given that some of the things involved can lead to (non exhaustive list):

- non healthy chemicals _in_ the meat, not just on it

- increase in parasite, bacteria or virus infection _in_ the meat

- increased chance bacteria have some form of antibiotic resistance or other mutations

- not wanting to support "that" level of animal abuse (which is not just illegal but criminal in many EU countries, but also that doesn't mean that EU countries are that much better, they just drew a line on the level of animal abuse they tolerate which is in a different place then the line the US drew, but both are far away from the line animal protection organizations would drew)

▲ throwaway2037 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

    > bleached chicken

I don't understand this meme that appears whenever US vs "Europe" food/crop standards are discussed.

I Googled for more info, and I found this quote: https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/04/15/nx...

    > Less than 5% of poultry processing facilities still use chlorine in rinses and sprays, according to the National Chicken Council, an industry group that surveyed its members. (Those that still do use a highly diluted solution at concentrations deemed safe.)

    > Nowadays, the industry mostly uses organic acids to reduce cross contamination, primarily peracetic, or peroxyacetic acid, which is essentially a mixture of vinegar and hydrogen peroxide.

What do European chicken meat plants use to reduce bateria load?

    > prevalence of GM crops

EU grows plenty of GM maize. More will come. Are Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) crops bad?

	▲	squeefers an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> What do European chicken meat plants use to reduce bateria load? sanitary conditions
	▲	wojciii 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		> What do European chicken meat plants use to reduce bateria load? I'm sure it's just salt and water. I don't understand why consumers will pay for a chicken breast which has been injected with salt water. It comes out when you prepare it. Also some people don't season food with salt (you can add salt at the table if you really need it). Meat with added salt taste very salty to me.
	▲	hluska an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		That’s really the whole point - EU food standards indicate that the need to use acids to prevent bacteria growth is the problem. The EU system is based on having higher sanitation requirements at all steps from feed to cage to plate.

▲ bestouff 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Looks like the healthcare system.

	▲	chanux 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Looks like a pipeline.

▲ spacecadet an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

you do know those are industrial food manufacturing outcomes not farming outcomes? Ain't no one bleaching my families chickens, or giving their cattle growth hormones. Americans have been tricked and mislead by marketing and conglomerate, some of which is European.

▲ alecco 34 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

Yes, and they equipment size keeps becoming bigger and more expensive, making it harder to afford for smaller farms. Meanwhile, China is disrupting this by building small and affordable farm equipment for the rest of the world, thus lowering international prices.

Also new technology is helping previously nonviable soil to be useful.