President Donald Trump said he plans to authorize legal documents to be drawn, letting farmers and ranchers process their own food, with Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins responding that there are “big announcements” to come on Monday.
Rollins said on X these include expanding ranchers’ ability to sell across state lines, growing “real support for small processors (funding and deregulation)” and “fighting consolidation so small processors can compete,” among other matters.
In the U.S., four companies make up a majority of the U.S. meat processing market: these are Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef.
Trump, in a Truth Social post Friday, talked about the four big processors, writing that “many say” they are a “nasty monopoly.”
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“There are, essentially, 4 of them, a very non competitive number, and they make life miserable for our wonderful Farmers and Ranchers, and I can’t let that happen, can I?” he said.
Ranchers, with some exceptions, currently can’t sell meat they slaughter and process on their own under federal law, except for personal use. Meat also has to be inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.
The Meat Institute, which represents meat packers, processors, suppliers and distributors, said in a statement to Straight Arrow that “America’s farmers and ranchers already have multiple pathways to process and market the livestock they raise that can be leveraged to achieve the goals stated by the President.”
“Allowing uninspected meat to be sold to unwitting consumers is the wrong approach, and risks undermining this country’s reputation for producing the safest meat products in the world,” The Meat Institute said.
Producers, the Meat Institute said, can already choose to process animals “under a custom exemption, establish their own state or federally inspected facility to sell meat commercially, or work with one of the thousands of small and very small federally and state-inspected establishments.”
The Food Safety and Inspection Service, they said, gives support to small producers with “plain-language guidance, technical assistance, educational resources, and dedicated outreach programs designed to help plants meet regulatory requirements and produce safe food.”
“It is critical that expanding processing opportunities does not come at the expense of food safety,” The Meat Institute said. “Federal and state inspection requirements exist for a reason: to help ensure that meat sold to American families is safe, wholesome and properly labeled. Allowing uninspected or inadequately inspected meat into the marketplace would put consumers at risk and undermine the food safety system that protects millions of Americans every day.”
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association issued a statement saying that while it supports more competition, more opportunities and the elimination of what they called “unnecessary” regulations, “weakening federal meat inspection & food safety standards isn’t the answer.”
“America’s cattle producers have earned consumer trust in U.S. beef over generations. That trust, and the gold standard food safety system behind it, shouldn’t be put at risk for a short-term political fix,” the NCBA said. “Washington should focus on reducing legitimate regulatory burdens, lowering input costs, protecting the herd from foreign animal disease & expanding processing opportunities — not managing the cattle business.”
Even if Trump makes it so people are allowed to process their own beef, Matthew Bennett, the co-founder and CEO of AgMarket.Net, said in an interview with Straight Arrow that “it’s not something that everyone’s going to do.”
“It would take some investment, of course,” Bennett said. “It would take a little bit of labor force as well.”
Added Bennett: “Do I expect this to you know widely spread? Probably not.”
He does think there might be some interest, though, as the “farm-to-table movement has continued to gain ground.”
“Not everyone wants to do that. But if you do that, and you can figure out a way to do it efficiently, I do believe that there will be people that will go down this route, if it all plays out this way,” Bennett said. “We just don’t know if it’s going to play out like that.”
Additionally, Bennett said “business-friendly” states would likely have more luck in getting people to try processing their own meat.
Bennett said he can understand being worried about some “fly-by-night outfits” doing so. But at the same time, Bennett thinks anyone who would want to process their own beef would make the food quality “of utmost importance.” Ranchers and farmers understand that, if there is an E. coli outbreak or something like that because of beef they’ve processed, “no one’s going to do business with them anymore,” Bennett said.
Trump’s announcement comes as beef prices have risen greatly this year — three times faster than grocery prices overall. In July, a pound of beef cost $6.89 on average, per the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis,which uses Labor Department Data. That figure is double what it was in 2013. Drought conditions, cattle diseases and soaring operation costs that have forced ranches to downsize or liquidate their herds are cited as the reason for this.
Recently, the president also said the U.S. will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef products to be imported without tariffs.
This was quickly criticized by ranchers, with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association saying Trump’s decision could “throw cold water on the prospect of herd expansion” and sacrifice long-term market stability.
Republican politicians also criticized the idea.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a frequent critic of Trump, said it is a “slap in the face to American cattlemen & consumers.”
“Dumping foreign beef in U.S. markets can temporarily lower prices, but it won’t incentivize American farmers to raise more beef,” Massie wrote on X.
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