Conservative political talk show host encourages Trump to end federal meat inspection

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The latest move by President Trump to bring down beef prices ahead of the midterm elections is resulting in more pushback from ranchers.

Earlier, Trump announced he would allow an extra 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef into the U.S. without over-quota tariffs for 90 days. The deal, that American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall says has created apprehension and chaos in the cattle market, is scheduled to take effect on September 1.

Now, Trump will seek changes to allow ranchers to slaughter, process, and sell their own products to consumers, restaurants, school food programs, hospitals, etc., without USDA food inspection, as a move he says will lower beef prices to consumers.

Trump also says his latest action will loosen the control of the four companies that dominate U.S. meat processing. Four companies control about 85% of U.S. meat processing: Cargill; Tyson Foods, JBS USA and National Beef Packing Co.

In a social media post, Trump wrote, “Ranchers and Farmers have always been a number one priority for me. They work very hard, are smart, efficient, and immaculately CLEAN, but for years I have heard that they have had a tremendous problem with the Big Processors, who many say are a nasty Monopoly. 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?”

Yet, the USDA under the Trump administration has shifted toward heavy deregulation, systematically undoing the former Biden administration’s signature competition rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act (PSA).

Following his re-election, Trump announced he will rescind Biden-era Packers and Stockyards Act (P&S Act) rules, designed to strengthen meat sector competition and protect ranchers and farmers from abusive meatpacker practices.  Among them was directing USDA to rewrite and reinforce regulations under the 1921 P&S Act, imposing stricter reporting requirements on meat pricing to promote fair price discovery in cattle and poultry, and partnering USDA with the Department of Justice to rigorously investigate and prosecute anticompetitive behavior, price-fixing, and collusion in agricultural markets.

Critics say the Trump administration is actually leading the charge to undo long-overdue progress made to level the playing field between producers and the meat processing industry.

The South Dakota Cattlemen’s Association said ranchers can already process livestock for their own families, but cannot sell uninspected meat to consumers, grocery stores, restaurants, school food programs, hospitals, etc.. The group argued federal meat inspection protects public health and consumer confidence in American beef. The association emphasized that it does not support weakening food safety standards, arguing, “Food safety is NOT red tape. Consumer confidence is NOT optional.”

The association called Trump’s announcement “not a serious plan to strengthen America’s beef supply chain,” but rather “a distraction from an import policy the cattle industry overwhelmingly rejected.”

The group is calling on the administration to withdraw the additional import allocation, preserve uniform inspection standards and work with the industry on solutions.

They are asking producers to contact South Dakota’s congressional delegation, telling them to protect meat inspection standards and push back on the additional import allocation.

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) stated that the gold standard of U.S. food safety and consumer trust should not be risked for a short-term political fix. The group urged Washington to stop trying to manage the cattle business and let the free market work.