A group of broiler growers has filed another lawsuit, this
one in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, accusing major U.S. chicken processors
of collusion.
It’s similar to lawsuits filed in September.
Haff Poultry Inc. and others accuse Tyson Foods, Sanderson
Farms, Pilgrim’s Pride and several other large companies of acting as a “cartel”
by sharing data leading to lower prices offered to contract growers.
The complaint alleges that processors also conspired to not
hire broiler farmers who were working for other defendants. The suit seeks
treble damages, costs and attorneys’ fees.
Tyson Foods said the lawsuit contains “false claims.”
“We want our contract farmers to succeed and don’t consult
competitors about how our farmers are paid,” company spokesman Gary Mickelson
said in an emailed statement.
Sanderson Farms, meanwhile, noted the lawsuit in a
regulatory filing that the company
plans “to defend it vigorously.”
USDA proposed rules late last year partly to help protect
chicken farmers from what they deem unfair treatment by processors, but
President Donald Trump has frozen the rules while his administration reviews
regulations passed at the end of Barack Obama’s last term.
It sounds like the big poultry processors might be running a
system of supply management. Tsk, tsk!
