Fox Business’ Amanda Macias reported that “President Donald Trump is moving to give ranchers a new way around the powerful meatpacking companies that stand between their cattle and the grocery-store shelf, following backlash in farm country over his decision to allow more foreign beef imports.“
“Trump said Friday that he was authorizing legal documents to be drafted to give farmers and ranchers ‘the right to process their own food,’ casting the move as an effort to break what he called a ‘nasty monopoly’ in the meat industry,” Macias reported. “The announcement came after cattle producers and some Republicans pushed back on Trump’s plan to temporarily allow tariff-free imports of up to 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef, a move intended to ease pressure on consumers facing high prices at the meat counter.”
“Under current law, ranchers can slaughter and process animals for their own use, but meat intended for sale generally must be processed in facilities that meet federal food-safety and inspection requirements,’ Macias reported. “Trump has not released the legal details of his proposal, and it remains unclear how far an executive action could go in changing those rules. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the administration would begin unveiling beef-processing actions Monday, including steps to reduce red tape, support smaller processors and expand ranchers’ ability to sell meat across state lines.”
Announcement Met Largely with Skepticism
Agri-Pulse’s Noah Wicks and Olivia M. Bridges reported that “as with Trump’s recent announcement that he would be suspending out-of-quota tariffs on 300,000 tons of imported lean beef trimmings, his latest move to aid the beef industry was mostly met with criticism.”
“A statement released Friday by the Meat Institute, a group representing meat processors, said producers already can choose to process animals under a custom exemption or establish their own state or federally inspected facilities to sell meat commercially,” Wicks and Bridges reported. “While the statement said the group is waiting to see more details from the administration on the plan, it warned that ‘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.'”
“Meanwhile, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association believes that ‘weakening federal meat inspection and food safety standards, as President Trump has suggested, is not the answer,’ according to a statement released by the organization on Friday,” Wicks and Bridges reported. “…Speaking to Agri-Pulse on Friday, R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard was more upbeat about the announcement, saying that Trump ‘pointing attention to the monopolistic structure of our packing industry is the first step in the process of reversing that.’ However, he added that at this point, ‘we simply do not know enough details to know what will transpire following’ the president’s comments.”
Lawmakers Have Proposed Processing Laws Before
Politico’s Grace Yarrow reported that “lawmakers have attempted for years to pass language that would allow small ranches and local slaughterhouses to sell meat directly to consumers without USDA inspections.“
“The bill, known as the PRIME Act, has bipartisan support led by Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) in the House and Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Angus King (I-Maine) in the Senate,” Yarrow reported. “The legislation has failed to gain traction in the face of lobbying efforts from powerful agriculture groups that argue the change would create a food safety threat.”
“Massie posted on X on Friday that Trump’s post ‘is great, but it should be a law, not just an executive order,'” Yarrow reported. “‘Pass the PRIME Act so consumers can get affordable U.S. beef and farmers can flourish!’ Massie wrote.”
Progressive Farmer’s Chris Clayton reported that “the House version of the farm bill also included a pilot program based on the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption (PRIME) Act that lets states allow the sale of custom-slaughtered meat directly to local buyers without a federal USDA inspection, relying instead on state inspection. Farmers would be able to market retail cuts in local stores and restaurants under the bill.”
