A contract farmer for Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. is blowing the whistle on what he says is the poultry company’s repeated violations of federal law covering the raising of birds. Pilgrim’s Pride has more than 54,000 employees and 36 production facilities in the U.S. and abroad. Pilgrim’s Pride has said that it will fully cooperate in the investigation. It is majority-owned by JBS S.A..Pilgrim's Pride purchased Gold N'Plump for $350 million in … A class action lawsuit alleging unfair and manipulative business practices has been filed against Pilgrim's Pride on behalf of chicken farmers. Pilgrim’s Pride, who I raised chickens for, in 2015 and 16 they paid their stockholders 1.2 billion dollars in dividends.” “It’s been about 20 years since their growers had an increase in pay,” says Weaver. The company says it processes one of every five chickens in the U.S. Claxton Poultry has 2,000 employees and supplies 300 million pounds of chicken per year to customers include Chick-fil-A. Pilgrim's Pride Corporation is an American, multi-national food company, currently one of the largest chicken producers in the United States and Puerto Rico and the second-largest chicken producer in Mexico. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. has reached a plea agreement with the U.S. government over charges of price-fixing in the chicken industry. Many other farmers are also moving away from animal agriculture for welfare, environmental, and personal … Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS SA owns 75% of Pilgrim's Pride. Pilgrim’s Pride is a division of JBS USA, the U.S. subsidiary of Brazilian meat production giant JBS SA. "In 2017, Pilgrim's undertook a strategic scheme to force out a number of older and smaller family farmers who grew chickens for Pilgrims' Athens, Georgia facility," the farmers allege. The suit claims that in order to sell to Pilgrim, the farmers are ordered to make physical changes to their farms and to ultimately pay for the changes. It exited bankruptcy in December 2009 and relocated its U.S. headquarters to Greeley, Colorado, in 2011. The suit further states that the company forces all growers to sign new contracts, although many of the … “That’s wrong … So I’m trying to do my part to get that changed.” Farmers Go Vegan.