The farmers located in Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas allege that the contract grower system created by Tyson Foods, Pilgrim’s Pride, Perdue Farms, Koch Foods, and Sanderson Farms pushed them deep into debt to build and maintain chicken barns to meet company demands.
They say the companies colluded to fix farmer compensation at low levels to boost corporate profits, making it difficult for the farmers to survive financially. They are seeking class action status for the suit filed in federal court in Muskogee, Oklahoma.
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10 comments:
All you have to do is look on Maryland Land Records to see how much local chickens farmers owe on their properties. It's is a bad investment all around.
I don't think anyone held a gun to their heads to build the chicken houses.
Farmers need to band together and form their own cooperative.
You are a servant! You serve the chicken factory to make chickens! I wonder about the stupidity of some people.
The standards they have to follow are expensive and probably way overkill. I wonder how much is actually dictated by the Feds?
Yeah the old co-op system was tried and failed years ago. Raising chickens can be a real good investment with good pay....But, you have to always remember to operate it as a business and not take your eyes off the operation. Some folks think because of modern automation you don't have to be there as much....Not true, 24/7 while chickens are there, then proper cleaning once they move for slaughter. It's a JOB!
We already see the Industrial CAFO Factories driving the little guys out of business. Greed and politics here drive the industry. Keep supporting DPI and you will see more.
I think what's interesting is the farmers named in the lawsuit are from all over the US. It doesn't sound like a bunch of contractors unhappy with a particular integrator but rather some person(s) interested in another issue. Follow the money. I'll bet it leads to an animal rights group.
We knew a born and raised eastern shore man who delivered clam shells alot to the local chicken farms. He always used to say they complained to him constantly about feeling trapped and huge debt for so little return if any at all no matter how hard they worked and how they were always asking him for side jobs at his business to make ends meet.
My ex father-in-law was a retired Arco corporate executive who went on to start his own multi-million $$$ oil company. He used an old Arco insider phrase regarding employees many times, " Let them have a decent life, but never ever let them get up". It meant, enough to survive and prosper but not enough to compete (I was included in that thought). He was able to do a start up company only because he had years of insider information, there was a new void in supply (Arco gone), and Arco had been bought out and about to disappear.
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