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Grassley welcomes more anti-trust oversight of agriculture

Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s encouraged by reports that the Justice Department’s Anti-Trust Division is planning more oversight of agriculture. Grassley is along-time advocate for more aggressive use of anti-trust laws in the agricultural sector.

“You know, I’m a free market person,” Grassley says, “but free markets are based upon competition.”

While he’s generally opposed to moregovernment regulation, Grassley says he doesn’t consider anti-trust laws to be regulation.

“I consider them being a referee in the free market system to make sure that there’s competition, so we don’t need government regulation,” he says.

The new head of the Anti-Trust Division at Justice, Christine Varney, has promised to review the department’s decisions involving agriculture in the last eight years. She also expressed her intent to investigate dairy pricing.