May 20, 2010

The Department of Justice and USDA are soon to start an investigation into the business relationship of small broiler growers and large poultry processors.

Production is down, prices are flat and sales contracts are smaller and tougher to come by. It could be that the poultry industry - Georgia's biggest agriculture business by far - is suffering from anti-competitive practices by big food companies, or it is just another victim of the recession.

In an unprecedented inquiry, the US Department of Justice's Antitrust Division and USDA are teaming up to hold a field hearing to discover if big chicken companies such as Perdue or Tyson Foods are hurting small farmers by imposing arduous contracts and tough price constraints.

The hearing scheduled on Friday, May 21, in Normal, Alabama is part of a sweeping examination of competition in the agriculture industry that the two federal agencies launched late last year.