Hello, Connor. The article below doesn’t go into much detail about the USDA study, but I think it’s still an important point to highlight. Class action lawsuit The farmers’ lawsuit against Tyson accuses the nation’s largest chicken company, with sales of about $53 billion last year, of not only breaching contracts to close plants and sell them to competitors, but also of conspiring to prevent competitors from buying them, leaving farmers with millions of dollars in debt. Tyson’s actions have left many farmers facing bankruptcy and foreclosure.
Whether it’s cheating farmers or consumers, something certainly seems rotten in the $65 billion-a-year U.S. chicken industry. control 60 percent of the market 71 percent 100% of poultry farmers live below the poverty line. Here are some lawsuits that have been filed against the big four companies in recent years.
- Earlier this year, Tyson and JBS Litigation They accused the government of suppressing the wages of workers at processing plants.
- Last September, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an antitrust lawsuit. For agricultural statistics Agri Stats, a national data and analytics company serving the meat processing industry, was indicted for allegedly sharing competitively sensitive information among pork and poultry processors to manipulate markets. Named Since 2016, it has filed more than 90 lawsuits alleging that major poultry companies used non-public data to fix prices.
- In 2022, the Department of Justice Large poultry producer group fined The court ordered a halt to the exchange of compensation information, prohibited the data companies (and their presidents) from sharing the information with any industry, and barred them from engaging in deceptive practices that could undercut chicken farmer compensation. Neither the poultry groups nor the data consulting companies admitted liability.
- In 2021, Tyson paid $221.5 million to settle a lawsuit brought by three plaintiffs who accused the company of conspiring to illegally inflate chicken prices.
Are you starting to see results?
John McCracken covers the industrial meat industry for Investigate Midwest. He has reporting experience at the intersection of agriculture, environmental pollution and climate change, and is a former Grist Midwest Reporting Fellow. Originally published below. Explore the Midwest.
The Meat Processing and Livestock Division is actively investigating Tyson Foods, one of the nation’s largest meat companies, according to interviews with contract farmers and USDA officials.
The PSD, a division of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is tasked with investigating and enforcing violations of the Livestock Processor and Stockyards Act, which was enacted in 1921 to protect livestock and poultry producers from “unfair, unjustly discriminatory, or deceptive practices.”
The agency regularly investigates possible violations, such as wage suppression for meat-packing plant workers, non-payment of livestock fees and discrimination against contract farmers. Investigations do not always lead to enforcement actions or penalties.
The agency did not publicly confirm or deny the existence of an ongoing investigation.
“PSD does not comment on any investigative activities, or lack thereof,” the agency said in a statement provided to Investigate Midwest. “As a regulator, PSD closely monitors all industry participants, including meat processors and poultry companies, for compliance with the Meat Packers and Livestock Plants Act.”
A USDA official confirmed in early August that the investigation was ongoing. Investigate Midwest is not releasing the names of the officials out of concern for retaliation from their employers.
Employees did not provide specific details about what authorities are seeking, but said Tyson Foods is aware of the matter and that it is broader in scope than other PSD investigations.
Tyson Foods is the largest chicken company in the United States, with sales of approximately $53 billion last year. The company operates 183 chicken farming facilities, including hatcheries, processing plants, and feed mills, in the United States. The company has contracts with approximately 4,000 chicken farmers across the country.
The investigation comes as Tyson Foods announces it will close nine meat processing plants across the country starting in early 2023. The company also Antitrust violations.
Tyson Foods did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
A chicken farm near Harrison, Arkansas, March 31, 2024. Photo by Julie Anderson, Investigate Midwest
Investigate Midwest filed Freedom of Information Act documents with the USDA in May, seeking records regarding possible PSD action against Tyson Foods, after two former contract farmers told reporters they had been contacted by Tyson Foods. The farmers said they were asked questions about debts they had incurred and their operations in working with the company.
The USDA denied the records request in June, citing a federal exemption for records that may relate to “enforcement records of ongoing or planned investigations.”
“[The exemption]protects law enforcement records when disclosure of those records could reasonably be expected to prejudice enforcement proceedings. The relevant enforcement purpose in this case is the enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act,” the June response letter said.
Investigate Midwest is appealing the denial of the records and is awaiting a response from the agency.
The Packers Stockyards Act Recent major updatesThe federal government is taking an increasing interest in the poultry industry.
Recent updates include requiring payment information to be shared between chicken companies and the contract farmers who raise the chickens, and the PSA has been updated to prevent discrimination against livestock and poultry raisers on the basis of race, sex, age or disability.
The USDA is still drafting a rule to address the “problematic” practice of contract farmers taking on excessive debt to work with companies. The department said it expects to finalize the rule by early next year.
In May, we surveyed the Midwest. Reported After Tyson closed its plants, the chicken farmers who did business with the company were left with millions of dollars in debt. Many faced bankruptcy or foreclosure, and some quit their jobs, found off-farm jobs, or sold their land to pay off their debts.
Peter Carstensen, an antitrust expert and professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin School of Law, said the PSD typically prepares investigative cases against companies to bring formal charges alleging violations of the law.
“It’s somewhat likely that authorities are seriously considering whether they can make a case that Tyson violated the provisions of the Slaughterhouse Act by attracting various investments and then closing its plants,” he said.
