How 4 Companies Control the Beef Industry

Positives

• It provides an example to help students visualize the effects of a lack of competition and monopolies.
• This explains why small ranch businesses have disappeared over time and how enforcing regulations to prevent monopolies is required for a market-based economic system to function. 

Additional Prerequisites

• It includes some business and economic terms that may require clarification.
• Presenting information about the effects of agriculture and diet on climate change before this video would be helpful to connect the content to climate change. 
• There are ads before and during the video, and the last minute is sponsored content.
  

Differentiation

• This is ideal for lessons in an economics class to illustrate some of the challenges of not enforcing or weakening anti-trust laws and government regulations.
• Students could research other consolidating industries and companies that affect climate change, such as genetically modified seed companies that also produce pesticides to apply to those seeds, that also make plastics, other chemicals, or pharmaceuticals. 
• Science classes could connect this resource to lessons about agriculture, land use, deforestation, methane emissions, and nitrous oxide emissions.
• Social studies classes could use this video when discussing the effects of large companies on small businesses within the same sector and the safety concerns associated with food production being highly consolidated (contamination issues, production issues, etc.).