There are plenty of examples of mergers gone bad, including the 2015 Albertsons/Safeway merger resulting in the bankruptcy of Haggen that led to the closing of over a hundred stores and the loss of over a thousand jobs across the western part of the U.S. The largely globalized food system has concentrated production in the hands of increasingly fewer companies and driven away local production and diversity of food choices, all while wreaking havoc on local economies from here in the U.S. to South America, Africa and Asia. Instead of consolidating even more power by allowing two of our nation's largest food retailers to merge into one even bigger giant, we should be going the other way. Defeating this proposed merger is a critical step for us to take if we are to ever hope for better and more localized food systems. The good news is that these companies don't just get to merge however they please. There are still some protective regulations left on the state and federal levels.