DOJ Steps Up Agriculture Market Scrutiny Amid Rising Prices (1)

As millions of Americans face an affordability crisis, the Justice Department is homing in on the agriculture industry, focusing on the rising costs faced by farmers and ranchers and soaring prices of key grocery staples like beef and eggs.

The Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation in recent months into how prices are set in cattle auctions, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The DOJ lawyers investigating National Beef Inc., Cargill Inc., Tyson Foods Inc. and JBS NV are looking to determine whether the companies reached illegal agreements over how they purchase cattle from ranchers, said some of the people, who asked not to be named discussing a confidential matter.

The beef investigation — which also involves a separate probe by a team of civil DOJ attorneys — comes after President Donald Trump demanded an inquiry in November amid record prices. Ranchers have long complained about anticompetitive conduct by the four companies, which control about 85% of the US market, according to the Agriculture Department.

The criminal aspect of the probe raises the stakes considerably for the companies and their executives, who face the prospect of steep fines and prison time.

Neither the companies or their employees have been accused of any wrongdoing and probes don’t always lead to charges or lawsuits being filed. A previous investigation into alleged price-fixing during the Covid-19 pandemic closed without action.

A spokesperson for JBS said the company wasn’t aware of any criminal investigation. The company, which is the world’s largest meat processor, holds a majority stake in Pilgrim’s Pride and is part of the joint venture that acquired Hickman’s Egg Ranch last fall.

A Justice Department spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

National Beef, Cargill and Tyson didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The DOJ opened a civil antitrust probe of the four meatpackers during Trump’s first term that was continued by the Biden administration, though it never filed a lawsuit. Gail Slater, the first DOJ antitrust chief during Trump’s second term, closed that investigation — which had gone stale — before opening up the new civil and criminal investigations.

Read More: DOJ Closed Meat Probe Just Before Trump’s Investigation Demand

US beef prices have skyrocketed to record levels as herds have dwindled, challenging Trump’s promise to make groceries more affordable. In February, Trump signed an executive order allowing increased imports from Argentina. That sparked mixed reactions, with ranchers criticizing the move and the meat industry welcoming the prospect of additional shipments.

“I am asking the DOJ to act expeditiously,” Trump said in a social media post in November. “Action must be taken immediately to protect Consumers, combat Illegal Monopolies, and ensure these Corporations are not criminally profiting at the expense of the American People.”

Sarah Little, vice president for communications at industry group Meat Institute, declined to comment on the Justice Department probe, but said beef processors have been losing money for the last 20 months as they pay producers higher prices for cattle.

“Beef packing companies have been losing money while paying producers record prices for their cattle because there are simply not enough cattle to meet strong consumer demand for beef,” Little said.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department is also drafting a civil antitrust lawsuit against egg producers, according to the people. The companies include Cal-Maine Foods Inc., Versova, and Hickman’s Egg Ranch Inc., and the lawsuit involves alleged collusion related to the supply of eggs, according to some of the people.

The eggs investigation followed record-breaking prices in early 2025, when the average price of a dozen eggs reached over $6, as bird flu outbreaks forced farmers to slaughter millions of egg-laying hens. Prices have since fallen to $2.35 per dozen, a 62% drop, according to USDA data. A lawsuit could be filed as soon as next month, though no final decision has been made, some of the people said.

The lawsuit is focused on whether the egg suppliers coordinated through Expana, an industry data service formerly known as Urner Barry, according to some of the people and a document viewed by Bloomberg News. A case could be filed in the coming weeks, the people said.

No final decision has been made on whether to file a lawsuit, the possibility of which was reported earlier by the Wall Street Journal.

Cal-Maine, Versova and Hickmans and the Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

Stimulating competition in the agriculture sector has stymied the US government for years. Over the past two decades, every administration has said it is focused on making agriculture markets more competitive. But few have made progress amid a steady stream of mergers in the industry.

President Barack Obama’s first antitrust chief, Christine Varney, led a series of workshops about competition in agriculture that illuminated problems in key markets like poultry and meatpacking, but no subsequent action was taken by Congress.

During the first Trump administration, the Justice Department filed charges alleging a criminal conspiracy to fix prices for broiler chickens after Tyson, the biggest US chicken producer, agreed to cooperate in exchange for not being prosecuted.

Greeley, Colorado-based Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., a unit of JBS, pleaded guilty to price-fixing and was sentenced to pay $108 million in fines. But a series of trials against executives fell apart during the Biden Administration, and the Justice Department was unable to obtain any convictions.

That led the Biden administration to take aim instead at Agri Stats Inc., an Indiana-based data provider, that the agency alleged helped chicken producers collude on the wholesale prices they set for sales to leading grocery stores. The civil lawsuit is set for trial in Minnesota federal court next month. The company has sought to settle the case during meetings with senior officials at the Justice Department, according to people familiar with the matter. The company has also met with the White House about the case, the people said. A lawyer for Agri Stats told the judge overseeing the case at an April 10 hearing that he was optimistic about reaching a settlement before trial.

Agri Stats declined to comment. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Antitrust enforcers are also nearing a decision on whether to challenge a merger between two companies that specialize in the artificial insemination of cows amid skyrocketing prices for genetic material, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ranchers frequently use artificial insemination to ensure specific traits such as high-milk yield as they breed replacements in dairy and beef cattle herds. The deal, between Ohio-based Select Sires Inc. and Texas’ Inguran LLC, which does business as STGenetics, was originally proposed in 2023 during the Biden administration, but later abandoned when faced with a potential antitrust lawsuit.

In a July 2025 annual report, Select Sires said it was again looking to link up with Inguran, hoping for better chances with the second Trump administration. STGenetics owns patented technology used to sort bull semen by sex, allowing ranchers to quantify how many male or female calves to expect.

Select Sires and Inguran didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The DOJ is also investigating pricing of fertilizer, seeds and other services and materials used by farmers, federal officials have said. The fertilizer probe comes as the prices of common ingredients including urea, ammonia and phosphate, have risen sharply since the beginning of the Iran war and effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The investigation is focused on phosphate and potash suppliers Nutrien Ltd. and Mosaic Co., as well as nitrogen-based fertilizer companies CF Industries Holdings Inc., Koch Inc. and Norway’s Yara International ASA, Bloomberg previously reported.

DOJ Probes US Fertilizer Market for Possible Price Fixing (1)

Earlier this month, US Department of Agriculture Deputy Secretary Stephen Vaden said he has met with officials at the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to discuss fertilizer investigations by both agencies , and that they are seeking help from farmers, who “have a lot of information that might be relevant to these investigations.”

(Updates with JBS statement in sixth paragraph, industry group in 12th.)

--With assistance from Ilena Peng and Erin Ailworth.

To contact the reporters on this story:
Josh Sisco in San Francisco at jsisco6@bloomberg.net;
Leah Nylen in Washington at lnylen2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Sara Forden at sforden@bloomberg.net

Josh Sisco

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