By Peter Navarro | Newsweek | April 18, 2026
American families have been getting hammered at the meat counter—and the Department of Justice Antitrust Division (DOJ) says it has found one big reason why: Big Meat, comprising America’s biggest broiler chicken, pork, and turkey processors, used a sophisticated information-sharing machine to achieve cartel-like pricing.
This revelation sets the stage for one of the most consequential food-supply antitrust cases now on the docket. When the bench trial in United States v. Agri Stats begins on May 4 in Minnesota, the DOJ will make its case that the number-crunching data service Agri Stats has turned confidential competitor data into actionable market intelligence that helped dominant processors stabilize or raise prices and weaken the pressure to compete.