Sean Dengler.

When it comes to grocery stores, every town needs one. Not traveling long distances to have access to food is vital. Unfortunately, food deserts have become more prevalent since the 1980s. This was not the natural endgame of the free market, but it was a policy choice. One of the reasons smaller grocery stores are more expensive than large chains like Walmart is due to the lack of enforcement of the Robinson-Patman Act.

This law, which is still on the books, says a product like a bag of potatoes cannot be sold by a supplier at a different cost between a small, independent grocery store and a large grocery store chain. By enacting this law, it makes stores compete on service and other qualities instead of using market power to get better prices. Back in the early 20th century, there was a Walmart before a Walmart called A&P. A&P used its market power to give customers low prices which other grocery stores could not. Congress passed the Robinson-Patman Act to outlaw the practice of charging different prices to similar customers.

While never repealed, the Robinson-Patman Act has not been enforced since the 1980s. Since then, food deserts and Walmart’s presence have grown. Benefiting from their sheer market power to demand lower prices than smaller grocery stores has made it even harder for any store to compete with Walmart. This has created a two-tier system where large corporations bully suppliers at the expense of the smaller grocery stores. According to Farm Action, “since suppliers can’t afford to lose major purchasers like Walmart, they give in to the giant grocers’ pricing demands. To balance their books, those suppliers turn around and squeeze the farmer or hike the prices to the smaller grocer.”

Despite these low prices, this means people drive farther to get their groceries when the local grocery store cannot compete on prices or closes. Unfortunately, the number of grocery stores in the United States has decreased by a third over the course of the last twenty-five years according to the Guardian. This leads to further consolidation where the top four United States grocery retailers control 69% of the market according to Farm Action.

Towards the end of the Biden administration, the FTC took a step towards leveling the playing field. They filed a lawsuit, alleging PepsiCo charged small retailers higher prices than they do for beverages sold to a large multinational chain store, which was redacted in the initial filing, according to Bloomberg. When the Trump administration came to power, the newly appointed FTC chair dismissed this case in May saying “the Biden-Harris FTC rushed to authorize this case just three days before President Trump’s inauguration in a nakedly political effort to commit this administration to pursuing little more than a hunch that Pepsi had violated the law.”

In the months since, the Institute for Local Self-Reliance fought to make public who the large multinational chain store was in this case. It was Walmart. According to Bloomberg, this unsealed complaint revealed losing Walmart would be detrimental to PepsiCo’s business. To stop this obvious conundrum, they provided Walmart with special product promotions and discounts to keep Walmart happy. Other competitors of Walmart did not receive these benefits available on proportionally equal terms.

While this case was dismissed, it shows what is happening in the real world by not enforcing the Robinson-Patman Act. The fight is not over. The FTC is still pursuing its case against Southern Glazer Wine & Spirits, who they say have violated the Robinson-Patman Act. Southern Glazer allegedly deprived small, independent businesses of access to discounts and rebates. This impeded their ability to compete against large national and regional chains.

While a stronger case will need to be brought in the future to fight back against price discrimination against small, independent grocery stores, this shows food deserts are not happening because the free markets say so. These are policy choices which need to be made and enforced. Otherwise, it will continue to lead to food deserts in rural and urban Iowa. People need food to eat. They do not need their local grocery store closed at the expense of a few companies gaining more market power. Food is life, and food should not be monopolized.

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.