BUCKEYE, Ariz. — A proposed settlement agreement with Hickman's Egg Ranch in Buckeye could result in the company paying $1 million and donating a large assortment of eggs to resolve allegations of "coordinated" price manipulation, officials say.
The Arizona Attorney General's Office announced Tuesday a proposed settlement with Hickman's and two other large egg producers would result in the three entities collectively paying $3.3 million and donating 53 million eggs.
The settlements are the result of an investigation conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice and several states that examined whether the defendants conspired to inflate egg prices.
According to the DOJ, Hickman's coordinated with Cal-Maine Foods Inc. and Versova/Centrum to "artificially" inflate the daily price quotations of Urner Barry Publications, which provides market information on the food industry. Barry's price quotations influence prices seen at grocery stores and the company considers how much producers are bidding to acquire eggs when determining its quotations.
The DOJ complaint alleges the egg producers tried to inflate Barry's price quotations by submitting a large number of bids and submitting bids hours before Barry publishes its price quotations.
"Since many of Defendants’ contracts with retailers incorporate prices based on Urner Barry’s price quotations, an increase in Urner Barry’s price quotations leads to higher prices for eggs sold to retailers (and thus higher prices for eggs sold to consumers)," the DOJ complaint states.
In 2022, the CEO of Hickman's allegedly contacted executives of the other firms and urged them to submit "strong bids, early and often," according to the attorney general's office.
The proposed settlement would obligate Hickman's to donate 3.25 million eggs to food banks and nonprofits in settling states where Hickman's currently does business, records show.
Hickman's suffered a major blow in 2025 when the company lost millions of chickens to the bird flu. The egg ranch announced late last year it was going to be bought by Mantiqueira USA, a Brazilian company.
