FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday January 20, 2022
WASHINGTON – Farmer whistleblower and Government Accountability Project client Trina McClendon testified this week before the US House Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law, on “Reviving Competition, Part 5: Addressing the Effects of Economic Concentration on Americas Food Supply.” She spoke about rampant consolidation and unmitigated concentration in the agricultural sector and how that impacts America’s chicken farmers.
Trina McClendon has been a poultry grower for the last 19 years. In 2003, Trina and her late husband, Rusty, signed a contract to grow chickens exclusively for Sanderson Farms. Trina McClendon stated in her testimony:
“As the years passed, we faced new, unexpected stresses that took their toll. At all times, we were at the mercy of Sanderson who told us exactly what we could and couldn’t do. Rusty was often very worried that Sanderson could terminate our contract at any time for any reason and that we would lose the family farm and our home.”
In December 2017, Rusty succumbed to the stress from contract growing and had a massive heart attack, leaving Mrs. McClendon a widow and the sole owner of an eight-house poultry farm. Mrs. McClendon forged ahead with the job of raising high-quality chickens. Her farm, Trinity Poultry...
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