Farm Food Cost
TRUMP REVOKED ANTI MONOPOLY LEGISLATION!!!
2025-07-09 Trump revoked Biden’s Executive Order 14036 on Promoting Competition in the American Economy . For context, only 4 major meatpackers control over 80% of the US meat industry. With fewer meat packers bidding for cattle in the U.S., ranchers have less leverage. The Biden administration tried to correct this in 2024 to reduce monopolies by including initiatives to empower the USDA to stop abusive practices. Trump squashed the order preventing food system consolidation, which gives farmers less leverage while increasing our food prices.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/08/revocation-of-executive-order-on-competition
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/13/trump-revokes-biden-order-economy
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/statement-revocation-biden-harris-executive-order-competition
Sysco
https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications/condemns-sysco-plan-to-buy-restaurant-depo
https://www.foodandwine.com/independent-restaurants-oppose-sysco-restaurant-depot-deal-11941190
https://slate.com/human-interest/2007/02/how-sysco-came-to-monopolize-most-of-what-you-eat.html
https://substack.perfectunion.us/p/the-hidden-reason-why-restaurants
1996
1996-06-06 Antitrust Enforcement in the Meat Packing Industry (archived DOJ document)
https://www.justice.gov/archives/atr/speech/antitrust-enforcement-meat-packing-industry-0
2022
2022-03-02 Biden openly criticized the “Big Four” for manipulating the meat market.
https://www.ucs.org/about/news/biden-calls-out-meat-packers-sotu
https://newrepublic.com/article/165576/biden-meat-monopoly-antitrust-economy
https://fortune.com/2022/01/06/meat-prices-biden-inflation-tyson-cargill-jbs/
SUB WALL https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/27/meatpacking-ceos-congress-hearing-00028238
2025
2025-02-06 Egg prices soared at the beginning of 2025, due to a strain of bird flu that started back in 2022. When farmers finally rebuilt flocks and replaced sick birds, the prices came down and Trump took the credit.
https://innovateanimalag.org/hpai-costs-2025
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/18/business/egg-prices-trump
2025-10-24 Trump announced plans to buy beef from Argentina. For context, Trump had just bailed Argentina out with $40 BILLION in American taxpayer funds a week prior (unrelated note: American meat processing plants also profit from things like byproducts, leather, and glue).
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/12/economy/argentina-america-bailout-currency
2025-11-21 The Tyson Foods company announced it would close the long-time Lexington Nebraska beef plant around January 2026, leaving roughly 3200 people out of a job. Also noteworthy, it was reported that this closure would boost Tyson stocks by 6%.
https://cap.unl.edu/news/understanding-tyson-lexington-plant-closure-what-it-means-cattle-producers/
https://www.producer.com/livestock/tyson-to-close-beef-plant-as-supplies-dwindle/
2026 April
2026-04-21 The DOJ opened an investigation into whether meat packers were colluding with fixed prices or manipulating the market. See 2022 when the Biden Administration often publicly criticized the “Big Four” for manipulating the markets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IyIiwYbNJs&list=WL&index=4&t=82s
https://thehill.com/business/personal-finance/5841854-doj-investigates-meatpacking-companies/
https://www.farmprogress.com/farm-policy/doj-probes-meatpackers-egg-suppliers-for-price-fixing
https://theweek.com/politics/justice-department-beef-meatpacking-industry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IyIiwYbNJs&list=WL&index=4&t=82s
ARCHIVED 1996 https://www.justice.gov/archives/atr/speech/antitrust-enforcement-meat-packing-industry-0
2023 OVERSIGHT https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg52955/html/CHRG-118hhrg52955.htm?utm_source=chatgpt.com