According to the online newspaper Anti-Trust Today, Peter Carson, an antitrust law professor at the University of Wisconsin, says a federal ruling against the largest chicken processor in the United States may open up a new avenue for farmers to sue processors in beef and pork markets as well.
In early October, a federal judge ruled that Pilgrim’s Progress knowingly manipulated the price of chicken in 2009 by closing a processing plant in El Dorado, Ark. Pilgrim’s Progress “was motivated by a desire to manipulate the price of chicken,” U.S. federal magistrate Charles Everingham ruled. The judge ordered Pilgrim to pay 91 Arkansas producers nearly $26 million. The ruling stated that the Packers and Stockyards Act was violated.