Pilgrim’s Pride Agrees on $100 Million Settlement with Poultry Industry

Pilgrim’s Pride has agreed to pay $100 million to settle a lawsuit alleging it conspired to underpay poultry farmers.

The settlement represents the largest in the history of the poultry industry, according to a court document filed last week with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The poultry processor, a subsidiary of JBS, was accused by a group of poultry farmers of an “overarching conspiracy to suppress compensation paid to broiler farmers nationwide,” in collaboration with rival companies, according to the settlement.

According to court documents, the court acknowledged the settlement agreement came after more than seven years of “hard-fought litigation,” which included reviewing over 1.7 million court documents.

Several other poultry processing companies had previously reached settlements in the same case, including Tyson Foods, for $21 million; Sanderson Farms, for $17.75 million; Koch Foods, for $15.5 million; and Perdue Farms, for $14.75 million.

The settlement amount from all of the alleged companies totaled $169 million.