Birdsong Corp.'s Peanut Price-Fixing Deal Is Worth $50 Million

The farmers leading a proposed price-fixing class action in Virginia federal court against the country’s top peanut shellers disclosed that their recent settlement with Birdsong Corp.—which leaves an Archer Daniels Midland Co. subsidiary as the sole defendant—calls for a payment of $50 million.

The peanut growers sought preliminary approval for the agreement, docketed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, a week after they submitted a $7.75 million deal with an Olam International Ltd. unit.

Both settlement motions say attorneys’ fees haven’t yet been the subject of any “discussion, let alone agreement.” The plaintiffs’ lawyers ...