By Driscoll R. Ugarte, Sean P. McConnell and Taylor Hertzler
On May 7, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division filed a proposed settlement in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota to resolve claims against Agri Stats Inc. for unlawful information sharing among the nation’s largest meat processors. The settlement aims to dismantle what the government alleges was a decadeslong practice of exchanging competitively sensitive pricing, output and cost data among rival broiler chicken, pork and turkey processors. Stakeholders across the agricultural supply chain—from poultry integrators and hog producers to livestock feed companies and meat buyers—should take note of this enforcement action, which may signal heightened DOJ scrutiny of data-sharing arrangements in the animal agriculture sector.