President Trump is authorizing ranchers and farmers to process their own food, taking direct aim at the four meatpacking companies he calls a nasty monopoly as the USDA prepares bigger announcements.
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he is authorizing legal changes to allow American farmers and ranchers to process their own food, a direct challenge to the four meatpacking companies that dominate the industry. The move gives producers a path around what Trump calls a "nasty Monopoly" of large processors, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says bigger announcements are coming next week.
The pledge lands as the administration pushes to bring down grocery prices with a temporary waiver on foreign beef tariffs. Trump cast the processing change as a long-overdue win for the people who raise the nation's food.
"Ranchers and Farmers have always been a number one priority for me," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "They work very hard, are smart, efficient, and immaculately CLEAN, but for years I have heard that they have had a tremendous problem with the Big Processors, who many say are a nasty Monopoly."
Trump said essentially four processing companies control the market, calling it "a very non competitive number" that makes life miserable for producers. He said the processors' ownership is largely based outside the United States.
"So, in order to break this powerful monopoly, with much of its ownership based outside of the U.S., I am authorizing legal documents to be drawn in order to allow Farmers and Ranchers to be given the right to PROCESS THEIR OWN FOOD," Trump wrote. "This should move quickly."
The announcement follows an interview earlier this week with conservative commentator Glenn Beck, a ranch owner who urged Trump to examine the "meat processing cartel" and suggested easing regulations so ranchers can slaughter and sell their own cattle.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said there will be "big announcements" next week to put the plan into motion. She called the ability to feed and fuel the country "a matter of national security" and said the department will waive red tape in processing and expand ranchers' ability to sell across state lines.
The move arrives alongside the administration's temporary waiver of higher tariffs on foreign beef, which allows imports of up to 300,000 metric tons - about 661 million pounds - of ground beef at lower cost starting September 1. The goal is to relieve pressure on consumers at a time when beef prices are near $7 a pound, up roughly 63 cents over the last year and about $2.93 since 2021.
The White House says the import plan includes safeguards that protect American ranchers from foreign competition while giving the domestic herd room to grow. The U.S. cattle herd sits near a 75-year low after years of drought and high production costs.
Ranchers have voiced concerns that cheap imports could undercut the prices they receive, and the American Farm Bureau Federation warned that the import window overlaps with the peak sales season between September and November. Kimberly Ratcliff, who runs Ratcliff Premium Meats and sources cattle from East Texas producers, said it costs roughly $1,100 a year just to keep a cow, forcing hard decisions about whether to hold or sell.
Trump's processing pledge is aimed directly at those pressures. By letting producers process and sell their own meat, the administration is offering ranchers an alternative to accepting whatever the big packers choose to pay.
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, a co-sponsor of stalled legislation to ease U.S. Department of Agriculture inspections for small ranches, called the president's action "great" - while noting it should ultimately become law, not just an executive action. A bill that would relax USDA inspection rules for direct-to-consumer meat sales remains stuck in Congress.
Rollins says the Agriculture Department will roll out details next week on cutting processing red tape and opening interstate sales for smaller producers. The administration is also expected to clarify what authority it will use to implement the changes, since current inspection requirements are set by federal law.
For ranchers, the promise of processing their own food represents a chance to capture more of the value of their livestock and push back against four companies that control the market. For consumers, it pairs with the tariff waiver to keep beef affordable while the domestic herd rebuilds.
If Congress follows Trump's lead and codifies the change, the days of ranchers being at the mercy of the Big Four could finally be numbered. Either way, the fight over who controls America's beef supply chain just got a lot more interesting.
President Trump is authorizing ranchers and farmers to process their own food, taking direct aim at the four meatpacking companies he calls a nasty monopoly as the USDA prepares bigger announcements.
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