President Biden signed an executive order, Friday, that includes 72 initiatives by more than a dozen federal agencies to increase competition across the economy, according to a White House statement.
Among them are initiatives that grow opportunities for small businesses by directing federal agencies to promote competition through their procurement and spending decisions. It will also empower family farmers and increase their incomes by strengthening the Department of Agriculture’s tools to stop the “abusive” practices of some meat processors.
“Rather than competing for consumers, [big agriculture, tech and pharma] are consuming their competitors,” Biden said during the signing of the order. “Rather than competing for workers, they’re finding ways to gain the upper hand on labor. And too often, the government has actually made it harder for new companies to break in and compete.
“And it’s not just consumers getting hurt,” he continued. “Big ag is putting a squeeze on farmers. Small and family farms, first-time farmers — like veterans coming home and Black and Latino and Indigenous farmers — they’re seeing price hikes for seed, lopsided contracts, shrinking profits, and growing debt.”
He concluded, “We have to get back to an economy that grows from the bottom up and the middle out.”
Related: USTR to Discuss EU Aircraft Tariff Disputes; USDA to Spend $4 Billion to Strengthen Supply Chain.