Mike Pearson talks about a lawsuit filed in Missouri last week by chicken farmers.

The chicken farmers have been crying fowl since Tyson announced the closing of Tyson's Dexter and Newell facilities.

The closings came after Tyson reportedly pocketed $2.8 billion in profit but couldn't afford the 600 jobs at the Dexter, Missouri facility.

Tyson later announced they were willing to sell the Dexter plant to anyone including competitors.

U.S. Senator Josh Hawley announced that if Tyson didn't keep processing chicken in the plant, it would be a violation of the Missouri anti-trust law.

Then in March, Tyson agreed to sell the Dexter, Missouri plant to Cal-Maine Foods-- the nation's largest producer of shell eggs.

And by March, Cal-Maine Foods announced the focus of the plant would be eggs and not chicken meat.

The lawsuit which names Tyson Foods, Tyson Chicken, Cal-Maine Foods and plant manager Mark Avery, was filed by 45 plaintiffs. The lawsuit alleges Tyson sold the plant and failed to honor their commitment to sell the plant in a way to benefit the community.

By not keeping the plant as a meat processor, Tyson violated the 1949 Missouri Supreme Court decision against Empire Storage Case.

Farm Progress America is a daily look at key issues in agriculture. It is produced and presented by Mike Pearson, farm broadcaster and host of This Week in Agribusiness.