Wisconsin Farmers and Meat Processors Waiting to See Impact of President's Push to Support the Beef Industry

Thursday, September 10th, 2026 -- 8:01 AM

(Hope Kirwan, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin farmers and meat processors are waiting to see the impact of the President’s latest policy push to support the U.S. beef industry.

According to Hope Kirwan with the Wisconsin Public Radio, on Friday, the President issued a pair of executive orders filled with policies long called for by American ranchers.

They include removing federal wildlife protections for gray wolves and Mexican wolves, exploring new regulatory options to enforce country-of-origin labeling on meat products and expanding investigations into anticompetitive practices by the country’s largest meat processors under the Packers and Stockyards Act.

The President also voiced support for producers’ “ability to butcher, process, package, and sell their meat to consumers across state lines” and called out the meat processing industry for “monopolistic practices” that overcharge farmers.

The statement from the White House points out that the four largest meatpacking companies in the U.S. control 85 percent of all purchases of steers and heifers. The executive order calls on the U.S. Department of Agriculture to modernize the federal inspection process and provide additional resources to support small meat processors.

Tim Brueggen, president of the Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors, said there are many things the agency could do to modernize the rules around inspections. But he doesn’t see many beef producers getting involved in processing their own meat.

“It takes a lot of equipment and a lot of building space,” he said. “It’s a substantial investment on your part to do that. It’s not like cutting up a white-tailed deer in your garage.” Brueggen also said enforcing mandatory country-of-origin labeling would create new costs for regional processors.

Jeff Sindelar, meat science professor and extension specialist for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the executive orders have “strong statements” about the meat industry “that don’t have a lot of context yet.”

“There’s some concerns about deregulation, and doing it in a way that doesn’t cause disruption, and also doing it in a way that doesn’t undermine the core principles of food safety,” he said.

Sindelar said more details are needed to understand how the USDA would seek to modernize inspections or create a pathway for farmers to process their own meat. But he worries if the administration’s goal is to simply “cut red tape,” it could compromise the system keeping the U.S. food supply safe.

The President’s orders come after American beef producers recently opposed the administration’s decision to allow increased beef imports in an effort to bring down consumer prices.

Darin Von Ruden, president of the Wisconsin Farmers Union, said the new support around policies like country-of-origin labeling are a direct response to that backlash. “Consumers really had an uproar on what was going to be happening because we don’t know where the beef is coming from,” he said. “So this is really another form of trying to pacify the public to believe that this administration really cares about producers and consumers.”

Von Ruden said putting new resources into cracking down on meatpackers for anticompetitive practices would help farmers. But he blames the President for walking back protections under the Packers and Stockyards Act during his first administration.

For other farmer groups, the President’s policies on meat processing are less important than the president’s action on removing, or “delisting,” gray wolves from protections under the Endangered Species Act.

“The wolf provisions are the most consequential part of these executive orders,” said the Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association in an email to WPR. “Producers deserve effective tools to protect livestock, adequate compensation for losses, and a meaningful voice in wolf management decisions.”

The Wisconsin Farm Bureau also voiced support for turning management of the state’s wolf population to state wildlife officials, saying the move is about “restoring balance that Wisconsin’s rural residents so desperately need.”

The organization had previously called out the current administration for its policy on increasing beef imports, saying “Wisconsin beef and dairy farmers deserve better but so does (sic) all U.S. consumers.”

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