Pilgrim’s Pride, the second-largest poultry processor in the U.S., gave a $5 million contribution to the Trump-Vance Inaugural Committee—the single largest donation to the fund, according to a new Federal Election Commission filing. The donation, which secured access to exclusive inaugural events including an ”intimate dinner” with President Trump, comes as the company faces ongoing antitrust lawsuits for price-fixing, hundreds of millions in settlements, and a slate of new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules targeting unfair grower contracts.
Pilgrim’s Pride, a subsidiary of Brazilian meat giant JBS SA, has spent years embroiled in antitrust scrutiny. In 2021, the company pleaded guilty to conspiring to fix prices and rig bids on broiler chickens between 2012 and 2017, paying a $107.9 million criminal fine. According to the Department of Justice, the conspiracy inflated prices across the supply chain, ultimately passing along additional costs to consumers. The company paid $75 million in 2021 to settle with poultry buyers over claims they colluded with Tyson Foods, and another $100 million in 2023 to resolve claims from poultry farmers alleging it colluded with rivals to underpay them through unfair tournament-style payment systems. A related shareholder class action settlement, finalized in January 2025, cost Pilgrim’s Pride an additional $41.5 million.
The company is currently a defendant in the sweeping In re Broiler Chicken Antitrust Litigation, a class action lawsuit that accuses multiple poultry giants of coordinating and manipulating prices, driving up costs for consumers even as feed prices dropped. The case has implicated several other politically connected companies, including those linked to GOP megadonor Ron Cameron (Mountaire Farms).
The $5 million donation for Trump’ inauguration comes after the Biden administration finalized a series of USDA rules aimed at reining in exactly the kind of abuses that got Pilgrim’s Pride in trouble. The Transparency in Poultry Grower Contracting and Tournaments rule, which took effect last February, requires poultry “integrators” like Pilgrim’s Pride to disclose the terms and performance metrics used in their grower contracts. Another rule, finalized in March 2024, is designed to prohibit practices relating to discrimination, retaliation, and deception in contracting. And a rule set to take effect in July 2026 will regulate the payment systems for growers and limit companies’ ability to require costly capital improvements from farmers without justification. Both are designed to shift some power back toward the chicken growers, who’ve long alleged that large companies like Pilgrim’s Pride use their market positions to suppress pay and punish dissent.
