Sean Dengler.

When it comes to participating in the economy, everyone wants to have a fair chance to compete. People want to believe if you put in the work, do your best, you will be rewarded for your toils. Through this effort, the best in each field will rise to the top. This has not always been the case.

Agriculture is ground zero for consolidation. Iowa was the first state to pass an antitrust law in 1888. Despite passing the Packers and Stockyards Act in 1921, the United States still deals with the side effects of widespread consolidation like the Tyson plant in Lexington, Nebraska. For a portion of the 20th century, there was more competition in the meatpacking due to the enforcement of antitrust laws to break up the oligopoly at the time.

When weakened antitrust law enforcement began in the 1980s, meatpackers started to consolidate again to lead to where we are today. The decent prices cattle producers are seeing are a result of the smallest cattle herd since the 1950s. Due in no small part to these consolidated companies, pushing out cattle producers.

This consolidation also came to the seed, chemical, machinery, fertilizer, and grain processing industries leading to attack on a farmer and rural person’s way of life. Agriculture may be the most consolidated industry in the American economy. This consolidation is also coming for the rest of the economy if it has not already arrived. This leads to the pursuit of happiness and economic liberty becoming harder to obtain.

This is the pain filmmakers are also feeling. While not holding many similarities, farmers and filmmakers share the fight against consolidation. Netflix is trying to buy Warner Bros. While Disney bought 21st Century Fox in 2019, this acquisition seems worse. This is a streaming company buying a film studio, which deals a significant blow to the film industry already on its last legs. Unlike Comcast and Paramount, Netflix is not as incentivized to keep the film industry afloat. They want people to stay at home and watch on their couch.

Like Dow buying DuPont Pioneer in 2019, this is one company buying its way in a similar industry to effectively killing competition in two sectors with one stone. Like the power over farmers, Netflix will have more power over filmmakers. Less places to pitch films, less places to have buyers compete to pay more for content, and less places where films could be released in theaters.

Netflix may have a few memorable shows, but nothing compared to the library of DC Universe, Harry Potter, Looney Tunes, HBO, which Warner Bros. possesses. For almost 100 years, this company has created this content and built their name. Netflix is taking the effortless way out by picking off a competitor by buying them out like John Deere did to Hagie instead of investing into their company to be better than their competitor.

Like many seed brands ending up under the control of only Bayer and Corteva, this lack of competition in the film industry is detrimental to everyone but those at the top. There is a strong chance the United States government will look at the Netflix and Warner Bros. acquisition and the possible harms. Paramount is also launching a hostile bid for Warner Bros. This story might go on for years.

It does not matter who wins Warner Bros. in the end. The consolidation still hurts. Mergers can only be so good until a certain point. Look at fertilizer prices for corn and soybeans and look at the consolidation of those sectors. It does not take a genius to realize consolidation plays a role in these higher prices. Competition is how America thrives. Restoring competition to all parts of the economy is vital because everyone wants a fair chance to compete.

Sean Dengler is a writer, comedian, now-retired beginning farmer, and host of the Pandaring Talk podcast who grew up on a farm between Traer and Dysart. You can reach him at sean.h.dengler@gmail.com.