Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
Editorials & Other Articles
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Meat Industry Price Fixer Sentenced to Make Money by David Dayen
Three years ago, the Biden Justice Department’s antitrust division sued a company called Agri Stats that should have made us all wonder what capitalism even means anymore. After all, is it a capitalist system when one company can get every participant in a market to give them proprietary information about inventory, production costs, pricing, and profit margins, allowing those participants to know exactly what their competitors are doing, enabling them to restrict supply or raise prices without consequences?
The initial lawsuit against Agri Stats, which dealt in data for broiler chicken, turkey, and pork processors, described a collusion machine, complete with clip art of little stick figures pulling profits upward. Nearly all participants in these markets subscribed to Agri Stats, giving them perfect information to use in price-setting. The lawsuit included an incredible quote: “An executive at Smithfield, a pork processor, summarized Agri Stats’ consulting advice in four words: ‘Just raise your price.’”
Agri Stats tried to dismiss this lawsuit, and the judge ruled for the government. A trial was supposed to start in Minnesota this month. But this is the Trump administration, where corporate misconduct goes to die. And so the Justice Department entered into settlement talks, and the final settlement was announced on Thursday. Unlike in the Ticketmaster case, the state partner plaintiffs (California, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah) all joined the settlement.
The settlement agreement is so dense and packed with exceptions that it’s hard to fully parse. But the continued existence of a company that facilitated price fixing for 40 years is confounding. And the reality is that the settlement’s intention to open up the conspiracy by allowing farmers, grocery stores, and restaurants to also buy Agri Stats data essentially sentences the company to make more money, without meaningfully halting the ability to price-fix.
The initial lawsuit against Agri Stats, which dealt in data for broiler chicken, turkey, and pork processors, described a collusion machine, complete with clip art of little stick figures pulling profits upward. Nearly all participants in these markets subscribed to Agri Stats, giving them perfect information to use in price-setting. The lawsuit included an incredible quote: “An executive at Smithfield, a pork processor, summarized Agri Stats’ consulting advice in four words: ‘Just raise your price.’”
Agri Stats tried to dismiss this lawsuit, and the judge ruled for the government. A trial was supposed to start in Minnesota this month. But this is the Trump administration, where corporate misconduct goes to die. And so the Justice Department entered into settlement talks, and the final settlement was announced on Thursday. Unlike in the Ticketmaster case, the state partner plaintiffs (California, Minnesota, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah) all joined the settlement.
The settlement agreement is so dense and packed with exceptions that it’s hard to fully parse. But the continued existence of a company that facilitated price fixing for 40 years is confounding. And the reality is that the settlement’s intention to open up the conspiracy by allowing farmers, grocery stores, and restaurants to also buy Agri Stats data essentially sentences the company to make more money, without meaningfully halting the ability to price-fix.
https://prospect.org/2026/05/08/meat-industry-agri-stats-department-of-justice-price-fix-trump/