Perdue Farms has reached an agreement in principle to settle a class action lawsuit that claims the company conspired with other poultry integrators in an effort to drive down the compensation for contract growers.
Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, but according to a Bloomberg Law report, the farmers represented in the lawsuit disclosed on July 23 that they are “working to finalize and document all terms of the proposed class action settlement.”
Perdue Farms acknowledged that it offered to settle, adding that the settlement was not an admission of being guilty of antitrust violations, but rather it was a means to continue to do business without the distraction of the lawsuit.
“While Perdue Farms denies the allegations of wrongdoing in the complaint and was prepared to vigorously defend against such allegations, the settlement of this lawsuit at this time is in the best interest of our company and our network of dedicated farmers. Our focus remains on producing high-quality, wholesome food for our country. As an imperative lifeblood of our business, we value the excellent relationships built on trust we have with our farmers, and remain committed to providing them fair, competitive contracts that benefit them and, therefore, our animals, company, customers, and consumers. We incentivize our farmers to raise our animals with the utmost care and dedication, and pay them competitively based on performance,” the company said in a statement emailed to WATT Global Media.
Perdue Farms’ settlement offer follows a similar agreement in principle that Tyson Foods reached about six weeks ago regarding allegations of driving down pay for contract growers.
Headquartered in Salisbury, Maryland, Perdue Farms is a leading broiler and turkey producer. The fourth-generation, family-owned company is the eighth largest broiler producer in the world, according to the Poultry International Top Companies survey, having slaughtered nearly 668 million broilers during the past year.
