Trump is moving to let ranchers process their own meat, calling Big Four a monopoly

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Four companies control about 85% of U.S. meat processing; Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins promised "big announcements" starting Monday

Credit: Mark Stebnicki / Pexels

President Donald Trump vowed on Friday to issue a legal order allowing farmers and ranchers to process their own meat, calling the nation's dominant processors "a nasty monopoly."

Trump posted on Truth Social that he was "authorizing legal documents to be drawn" to give farmers and ranchers the right to process their own food, without naming a specific product or sector. Four companies — Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS USA, and National Beef Packing Co — control about 85% of U.S. meat processing.

Under current federal law, ranchers are permitted to slaughter and process their own animals but are barred from selling that meat unless they meet strict safety and sanitation requirements and undergo regular inspections. The details of how Trump plans to alter those rules remain unclear.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins $ROL wrote on X $TWTR that Monday would bring "big announcements" on beef processing, among them efforts to broaden ranchers' authority to sell meat across state lines, new backing for smaller processors, and the withdrawal of "outdated guidance."

Trump's move follows an interview earlier this week with conservative radio host Glenn Beck, who owns a ranch and urged Trump to ease regulations he said were impeding ranchers from processing their own animals. Trump said during that interview that he would look into whether too many regulations were burdening beef processing plants.

The announcement drew swift criticism from industry groups. The Meat Institute, which represents meatpacking companies, warned that allowing uninspected meat to reach consumers could undermine the country's food safety reputation. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association, according to CNN, said "weakening federal meat inspection and food safety standards isn't the answer."

Farm and ranch groups have long maintained that the sector's consolidation puts small producers at a disadvantage, leaving them with few buyers willing to compete for their cattle and forcing them to haul animals to USDA-inspected facilities, often at considerable expense.

The announcement comes amid broader tensions over beef policy. Last week, Trump separately announced that additional ground beef imports would enter the United States duty-free — a move that drew sharp backlash from cattle ranchers and rural Republican lawmakers. The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether meatpacking companies unlawfully inflated the prices consumers pay for beef.

Both Trump and former President Joe Biden have sought to address consolidation in meat processing, with limited results. The Biden administration put forward rules aimed at boosting competition and improving compensation for chicken farmers, measures the Trump administration has signaled it intends to roll back. Both administrations have channeled money into smaller meat processors in an effort to widen the options available to ranchers.

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