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ST. PAUL – Dominant corporations are using unfair pricing tactics to hike grocery prices according to a new report funded by the Minnesota Farmers Union Foundation. The report, “The Secret Behind High Grocery Prices,” details anticompetitive tactics that are not only leading to sticker shock at checkout but also harming small businesses and family farmers.
“While Minnesota families struggle to keep food on their tables as the result of skyrocketing prices, farmers and independent grocers are not seeing a windfall,” said Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish. “This report highlights the unfair pricing practices used by the dominant players in our food system and helps explain the disconnect between prices consumers pay and prices farmers receive.”
The report finds that grocery prices in Minnesota have increased by more than 34 percent since 2020, driving people’s concerns about affordability. The use of anticompetitive measures including surveillance pricing, price discrimination and price-fixing are key reasons for these increases according to the report. It highlights the surveillance used by Instacart to test personalized prices, how Walmart uses its market power to raise prices on its competitors, and the way Agri Stats enables major meat processors to collude and hike prices.
“As policymakers look towards 2027 and how to help ease the economic challenges facing our state, it is critical they address the corporate consolidation and anticompetitive tactics at the heart of our affordability crisis,” said report author and MFU Antimonopoly Director Justin Stofferahn. “Minnesota has a rich history of creating protections for consumers, farmers and small business owners facing unfair pricing practices and now is the time to add to that legacy.”
Explore the report online at mfufoundation.org/report-the-secret-behind-high-grocery-prices/.
Minnesota Farmers Union news release
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