The President signed an executive order directing the Department of Agriculture to expand market access for meat producers and increase enforcement of fair competition rules. The text of the order, released Sept. 10, 2026, aims to reduce barriers for ranchers processing their own products for sale to consumers.
The policy seeks to protect small processors from deceptive or monopolistic practices while maintaining food safety standards, according to the order. Executive Order 14424, signed Sept. 4, 2026, requires the Secretary of Agriculture to prioritize investigations into potential violations of the Packers and Stockyards Act, focusing on practices that restrain commerce or manipulate prices.
The order mandates increased staffing and investigative resources within the Department of Agriculture’s Packers and Stockyards Division, its Office of General Counsel and the Office of Inspector General. It also directs the department to coordinate with the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, in keeping with a 2025 memorandum of understanding, to pursue complementary antitrust actions.
To expand interstate shipment of meat products, the agriculture secretary must accelerate outreach and streamline processes for state participation in cooperative inspection programs. The department will create technical assistance and training programs for small meat processors and establish a web resource detailing local slaughter and processing availability.
The agriculture secretary must take actions, as appropriate and consistent with applicable law, to establish a guaranteed loan program named Strengthening Processing for U.S. Ranchers to help small and regional beef processors continue operations, expand their footprint and increase animal protein diversity. Additionally, the order directs the removal of unnecessary Food Safety Inspection Service inspection reporting requirements and overly prescriptive requirements, consistent with applicable law, that do not advance essential food safety needs. The agriculture secretary must create a coordinator position to implement these actions and serve as a conduit to ranchers.
The agriculture secretary has 60 days to submit a report to the President detailing current enforcement actions, resource needs and a heightened enforcement plan for the coming year. Within the same 60-day period, the secretary must submit two additional reports assessing participation in state-federal cooperative inspection programs and identifying statutory provisions that restrict state-inspected meat from entering interstate commerce.