BLOOMFIELD, MO. — Grandview Poultry LLP filed a class action lawsuit against Tyson Foods Inc. and Cal-Maine Foods Inc. on June 5 for anticompetitive and fraudulent practices involving the Dexter, Mo., processing plant.

In March, Cal-Maine finalized its acquisition of Tyson’s former processing plant, hatchery and feed mill in Dexter. Cal-Maine planned to convert the site into a shell egg operation.

According to the complaint, “Tyson’s Aug. 7, 2023, closure announcement shocked and devastated the Dexter community, though defendant Cal-Maine apparently knew it was coming because upper-level management officials from Cal-Maine were present at Tyson’s Dexter complex on Aug. 7, 2023, and the following day.”

Grandview Poultry, representing around 45 other local producers, believes Tyson’s dealings with Cal-Maine will devastate the region as it “wrongfully” terminates contracts with chicken farmers.

Through Tyson’s vertically integrated chicken production system in Dexter, producers built chicken farms to meet the company’s specifications. Financing was primarily possible through government-backed loans from poultry banks. The plaintiff noted that the chicken houses could only be used for the purpose of raising chickens for slaughter at Tyson’s Dexter facility.

“It was not just chicken farmers who put everything on the line for Tyson,” the complaint said. “Hundreds of people worked in the Dexter processing plant, and dozens of companies supplied various materials and services to the plant.”

The court document added that a property agreement signed Dec. 29, 2023, between Tyson and Cal-Maine that remains in effect for 25 years is a “blatant restraint of trade in violation of Missouri’s antitrust laws.”

Details regarding the agreement have been redacted from the publicly available court documents.

The plaintiff said producers signed an agreement with Tyson in September and November 2023, relinquishing the company from any liability of wrongdoing through a specified date. Since the property agreement between Tyson and Cal-Maine was implemented following the specified date, the chicken farmers are now able to take action on their claims against Tyson regarding its negotiations with Cal-Maine, the complaint said.