Trump vows to break Big Four meatpacker grip, lets ranchers process own beef
Trump says he will authorize farmers and ranchers to process their own food and target the four packers that handle about 85% of U.S. beef, after backlash over foreign import plans.
WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald Trump said he will break the grip of the four meatpackers that dominate the U.S. beef market and let ranchers process and sell their own food, escalating a fight with an industry he calls a monopoly.
Four firms — Tyson, Cargill, JBS and National Beef — handle about 85% of U.S. fed-cattle slaughter, according to justthenews. Trump said the big processors made life miserable for American ranchers and that he is authorizing legal documents to give producers the right to process their own protein for sale.
“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. This should move quickly,” Trump said, according to capitalpress.
Here is the full post on truthsocial: “Trump breaks Big Four meat processor grip, restores ranchers’ freedom to process: https://Just the News/government/white-house/trump-breaks-big-fours-grip-and-restores-ranchers-freedom-process” on August 30, 2026 at 8:20 AM ET.
This is Trump’s 4th message released today, out of four total today, and the last post was zero minutes ago, and it is not part of a thread. On average, Trump produces 18 posts per day since his inauguration on January 20, 2025. The move fits a broader pattern in Trump’s recent messaging, with 57 of his 642 posts over the last 30 days classified as Domestic Policy posts.
The move followed backlash from cattle ranchers and Republican lawmakers from agriculture states over a White House plan to flood the market with imported foreign ground beef, according to kctv5. Trump announced on Aug. 21 that he was authorizing the import of 300,000 metric tons (about 331 tons) of lean beef trimmings with no out-of-quota tariff for 90 days, an effort to lower beef prices for consumers, according to justthenews. Ranchers said they would be the ones paying the price, and the foreign beef imports begin Sept. one, according to kctv5.
President Donald J. Trump announced plans to allow ranchers to process their own beef at Washington D.C.
© copyright Flickr with permission
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins responded within minutes to Trump’s post, promising announcements to waive processing red tape, let ranchers sell across state lines, back small plants and fight consolidation. “We are on it Mr. President,” she said, according to justthenews. Trump also cited producer complaints in his own post, writing that ranchers “have had a tremendous problem with the Big Processors, who many say are a nasty monopoly,” according to capitalpress.
Ranchers often face only two to four local buyers, thin cash markets and long hauls to distant plants, according to justthenews. Custom processors book months ahead and charge $1.20 to $1.60 a pound, a bottleneck that has squeezed what producers get paid relative to grocery prices. Derek Lange, who runs Citrus Cattle Company in California’s Central Valley, said he hauls finished beef two and a half hours away for USDA processing at more than double the cost of a local custom butcher, according to justthenews.
The packers pushed back on the plan through their trade group. The Meat Institute said ranchers already have several ways to process and market livestock, including a custom slaughter exemption and state or federally inspected facilities, and it warned against compromising food safety, according to capitalpress. “Allowing uninspected or inadequately inspected meat into the marketplace would put consumers at risk,” the institute said, according to capitalpress.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department will investigate alleged price-fixing and solicited tips from ranchers, according to capitalpress. A date for the promised regulatory announcements has not been confirmed in the available record.
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