Agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) will pay $45 million to settle price-fixing allegations by a large swath of United States peanut farmers, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
The report notes that nearly 12,000 peanut farmers accused the Chicago-based company of taking part in a scheme among top peanut processors to curtail prices paid to growers. The WSJ said farmers claimed ADM's Golden Peanut division collaborated with two other processors in reporting faulty pricing and supply data that kept prices for farmers artificially low for the past six years.
The report said ADM has denied any wrongdoing and chose to settle the lawsuit to avoid allocating time and resources fighting the case.
