Group requesting further consideration of a district court’s orders sealing important documents on how Big Ag firms operate
Fair food system advocacy organization FarmSTAND has filed a motion requesting further consideration of court orders that would keep important information about large meat corporations from public view. The filing comes in the U.S. v. Agri Stats case, in which the federal government and attorneys general of Minnesota, California, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah allege that agribusiness firms engaged in anticompetitive behavior via the agricultural data service Agri Stats.
Records currently under seal in the litigation include the parties’ expert reports, which may contain detailed information on exactly how Agri Stats’s alleged actions harmed consumers.
In today’s filing, FarmSTAND writes that it is “particularly interested in the present case because the alleged wrongdoing is directly related to FarmSTAND’s mission to address undue corporate power in the agricultural system” and that “the parties in this case have not come close to meeting their burden to justify sealing the records at issue in their three most recent joint motions.”
FarmSTAND is committed to making the inner workings of the factory farming system visible. Its Deep Dive series transforms key findings from FarmSTAND lawsuits against corporations and the government into resources that empower advocates, journalists, policymakers, and the public with the facts they need to take on Big Ag.
“The public has a right to know the details about how the biggest meat corporations may have used Agri Stats to increase their power to the detriment of consumers and of independent producers of food,” said Nathan Leys, FarmSTAND Staff Attorney. “Forcing greater transparency will help stop the biggest meat corporations from exerting even more power over the system they dominate.”