On Monday, The Federalist posted an article about the problems of beef production in America.
The article reports:
President Donald Trump met with ranchers in the Oval Office on Friday, signing two executive orders to incentivize the domestic production of beef: Supporting America’s Ranchers and Promoting Fair Competition In Livestock Markets And Expanding Market Access for American Meat Producers.
President Donald Trump met with ranchers in the Oval Office on Friday, signing two executive orders to incentivize the domestic production of beef: Supporting America’s Ranchers and Promoting Fair Competition In Livestock Markets And Expanding Market Access for American Meat Producers.
These are relatively non-controversial executive orders; it would be easy for Congress to put them into law. Congress instead has become a speed bump in the way of getting anything done.
The article notes:
So in substance, the president has ordered the executive branch to send him a bunch of reports: on wolves and cattle predation, on country of origin labeling, on independent meat processing and simpler interstate market access for meat products.
On social media, the White House explicitly framed the orders as an opening move, writing that Trump had “launched a whole-of-government effort to protect & fully support America’s ranchers.” Rollins echoed that theme: “MORE TO COME SO SOON,” she wrote.
Evidently, wolves are a problem for cattle ranchers:
Wolf predation has become a serious problem for cattlemen in the West, especially following the reintroduction of the gray wolf. Cows are becoming wolf food. In California, researchers at UC Davis concluded that “72% of wolf scat samples tested during the 2022 and 2023 summer seasons contained cattle DNA.”
Populations have rebounded significantly since the gray wolf was listed as an endangered species in most of the country in 1978, preventing ranchers from killing them in response to predation. The Arizona rancher Casey Murph has described “the feeling of having to ride away to the sound of a pack of Mexican Grey wolves tearing your border collie herding dog to pieces,” one of many examples of ranchers arguing that the threat of wolf attacks isn’t well understood outside of cattle country.
Part of the problem is the monopoly of beef processing plants. It’s time to end that monopoly and let the free market take over. Please follow the link to the article for further details.