Trump ended the monopoly of the meatpackers and enabled ranchers to process and sell their own food

The president Donald Trump announced a measure that ranchers and farmers in the United States have been requesting: he initiated the legal process for producers to process their own food directly, with the aim of breaking the monopoly of the four major meatpackers that have strangled independent producers for decades and raised prices for consumers.

"Ranchers and farmers have always been my number one priority. They work very hard, are smart, efficient, and extremely clean, but for years I have heard they have a tremendous problem with the big processors, which many describe as an unpleasant monopoly," the president wrote. "Essentially, there are 4, a very uncompetitive number, and they make life impossible for our wonderful farmers and ranchers."

"And I can't allow that to happen, right? So, to break this powerful monopoly, most of whose ownership is based outside the U.S., I am authorizing the drafting of legal documents to give farmers and ranchers the right to process their own food. This should move quickly," Trump authorized.

According to data from the Department of Agriculture, there are four large companies that handle approximately 85% of all beef and heifer purchases in the country. These four companies that make up the meatpacking monopoly are Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS USA, and National Beef Packing Company.

Under U.S. law, farmers can slaughter livestock for personal, family, employee, or guest use without payment through limited exemptions, but to market the meat they must pass a federal inspection or an approved state system. Trump's idea is to cut these regulatory barriers that keep small producers trapped within the corporate processing system.

As expected, the meat industry lobby opposed the measure and claimed that deregulation of the sector could pose risks to food safety. It is worth noting that the White House has not announced the elimination of inspection standards and has not yet disclosed the new legal mechanism.

The Department of Justice has been investigating this lobby since last year, whose corporate giants are foreign-owned, for possible cases of illegal collusion, price-fixing, and market manipulation, essentially manipulating prices and threatening the nation's food supply.