ADM will pay $45 million to settle a lawsuit from peanut farmers claiming the firm colluded with other processors to depress the prices paid to peanut growers, reports the Herald & Review.
The company, formerly headquartered in Decatur and with major grain processing operations here, denied any wrongdoing on part of its Golden Peanut processing division.
The lawsuit by some 12,000 U.S. peanut farmers, mainly based in the South, said Golden Peanut had coordinated with several other processors to report erroneous supply and pricing information and thereby suppress the fees paid to farmers for their peanut crops over the last six years.
