Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Supports America’s Ranchers

These three documents—two hypothetical Executive Orders and one comprehensive Fact Sheet—outline a high-stakes, "America First" policy agenda for the U.S. ranching and beef industries, dated late 2025 through September 2026. Taken together, they represent a fundamental shift in how the federal government interacts with the food supply chain, moving toward aggressive antitrust enforcement, environmental deregulation, and protectionist trade policies. Here is an analysis of the strategic "pillars" of this policy platform: The most significant aspect of these documents is the pivot toward independent ranchers at the expense of the "Big Four" meatpacking giants (Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef). Antitrust Action: By invoking the Packers and Stockyards Act, the administration is signaling a "war" on the monopolistic practices that many ranchers believe have suppressed the price of cattle while keeping grocery store prices high. Processing Decentralization: The "Harvest to Hallways" initiative and the "Strengthening Processing" loan programs aim to build a "parallel" meat industry of small and mid-sized processors. This would reduce the reliance on the major packers and create more regional competition. The orders explicitly prioritize the "national herd" over the recovery of certain endangered species. Wolf Delisting: The mandatory delisting of Gray and Mexican wolves in the West is a top-tier issue for Western ranchers. These documents move away from the "ecosystem services" model of the previous administration toward a "production-first" model. Grazing Expansion: By mapping 2 million additional acres and using grazing to "reduce fuel loads" for wildfires, the administration is treating cattle as a tool for land management rather than a threat to it. The text repeatedly frames the 75-year low in the national herd as a national security crisis. "Product of USA": By tightening labeling to only include meat "born, raised, harvested, and processed" in the U.S., the administration is using consumer patriotism to drive up demand for domestic cattle. Mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling (MCOOL): The move to potentially reinstate MCOOL (Section 4 of the first EO) is a "nuclear option" in agricultural trade. It would likely lead to immediate retaliatory tariffs from Canada and Mexico but is a long-standing demand of independent cattlemen's groups like R-CALF USA. The Fact Sheet lists a suite of tax changes designed to make ranching more profitable and to keep family farms intact: Permanency: Making the 20% Small Business Deduction and the Death Tax Exemption permanent addresses the "fiscal cliff" many ranchers face when passing land to the next generation. Immediate Expensing: Allowing ranchers to deduct the full cost of assets (tractors, fencing, breeding stock) in year one is a classic "pro-growth" incentive to encourage immediate reinvestment in the herd. The documents acknowledge that cattle prices are only half the battle; the cost of raising them is the other half. Fertilizer: By authorizing the suspension of duties on Moroccan phosphate and onshoring fertilizer production, the administration is attempting to lower the cost of feed, which is the largest expense for most ranchers. Biosecurity: The mention of "New World Screwworm" eradication shows a focus on technical biosecurity to prevent catastrophic losses to the domestic herd.