Tyson Foods

Commercial chicken farmers literally bet the farm, spending millions of dollars on land and enormous chicken houses to raise birds they never own — putting their livelihoods in the hands of a single company that is both their supplier and sole buyer. When Tyson closed a processing plant in southeast Missouri, some farmers facing bankruptcy decided to sue.

The majority of the pollutants released by Tyson in the five years the study examines were in the Midwestern states of Nebraska, Illinois and Missouri.

Large meat companies are paying millions to settle price-fixing suits, but even those penalties may not change much.

When physician Erik Martin left his home in southwest Missouri to help with New York’s COVID-19 outbreak in April, his county had fewer than 10...