President Breaks Meatpacking Monopoly By Asking Ranchers To Become Meatpackers

WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump pledged to let farmers and ranchers process their own meat, confronting concentration in the packing industry by inviting cattle producers to add a federally complicated second occupation.

Trump called the four dominant meatpackers a “nasty Monopoly” and said legal documents were being prepared to give producers the right to process their own food. The announcement followed a Wednesday interview in which rancher and radio host Glenn Beck asked him to loosen rules that require commercially sold meat to pass through inspected facilities. Trump said the idea should move quickly.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the department would begin announcing measures Monday to waive red tape, support small processors, and expand interstate sales. USDA is already offering $500 million to eligible small and midsize slaughter facilities, but those businesses must be federally inspected or participate in approved cooperative inspection programs. The new promise has not yet explained which inspection standards would remain.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association supports more competition and smaller processors. It also warned that weakening federal inspection and food-safety requirements would be a serious mistake. The group said constant government intervention makes long-term herd decisions harder, a week after the administration irritated ranchers by temporarily easing tariffs and restrictions on imported beef to push retail prices down.

The beef policy has now traveled from importing more cattle to processing more cattle at home. Ranchers asked Washington to leave them room to rebuild the herd. Washington responded with paperwork for a slaughter room.