Building and Supporting Local Food Systems Will Require an Act of Congress
Posted on October 2, 2026 by Mike Callicrate
Big food companies have rejected the use of the Born and Raised in the USA
label since more questions are asked about the origin of non labeled beef.
Although the federal government is one of the largest purchasers of meat in the U.S, it cannot legally buy from local/regional meat processors under existing lowest cost procurement rules.
USDA dictates that 100% of red meat products—including beef—must originate from animals born, raised, slaughtered, and processed in the United States. A few Socioeconomic Set-Asides (FAR Part 19) and small Regional & Local Preferences offer prices far short of the actual costs of small processors. According to former USDA staff, product priced more than 10% higher than commodity from big processors is generally not accepted under most government purchasing programs, including the Buy American Act (FAR Part 25) and USDA AMS (Ag Marketing Service) rules.
Ag Secretary Rollins and HHS Secretary Kennedy are proclaiming newfound support for local/regional agriculture. In a recent visit to Colorado Springs Army base, Ft. Carson, Secretary Kennedy stated the new bistro on base was saving money while serving better quality food, including local food. The new venue is under the management of Compass, the largest food management company in the world. There is no evidence Ft. Carson is serving local beef, although it’s readily available. Government procurement rules, combined with food management companies preferring to buy from large vendors offering significant kickbacks, rebates, and other incentives, mean local producers have virtually no possibility of feeding our troops, schools, rest homes, hospitals, food pantries, or any government related entity.
Current rules were written by big food companies and their lobbyists with no consideration for food and national security – carefully crafted to conceal the blocked market access for smaller local/regional plants sourcing truly domestic cattle. Alternatively, products from the decentralized smaller slaughter plants are safer and of higher quality, in addition to offering better food system resilience and sustainability — is exactly what is needed as the big four meatpackers close large plants and scale back operations. Beef demand has increased, but instead of our nation’s cattle herd growing to meet the demand, over half our producers have been forced out of business due to low cattle prices, a result of decades of ballooning monopoly power.
Meat from the big four meatpackers is cheaper because they have the power to externalize costs. From buying cattle below the cost of production, government subsidized feed, mistreating workers, paying less than living wages, and willingness to degrade the environment, they have a significant cost advantage over small community-minded plants.
In comparison, small local/regional whole-animal slaughter plants, with operational costs plus raw material costs nearly double the price of foreign imported beef, have zero chance of competing against big processors who are able to win government contracts by dollar-cost-averaging far cheaper imports mixed with below-cost-of-production domestically produced beef. These same companies search for and are increasingly dependent on the cheapest imported meat they can find, while for decades they have used their abusive market power to buy domestic cattle below the cost of production, leaving producers without the capital or the confidence to grow the U.S. cowherd.
Whether imported meat is kept separate is questionable. Remember that USDA allows many of the largest plants to bypass USDA inspection by self-inspecting. So what happens to the 660 million pounds of imported beef trimmings recently announced by the administration? Will it be properly inspected or will it miss inspection like the recalled Argentine beef this summer? There’s simply no way small plants sourcing strictly domestic livestock can compete with this.
The only way the government can realistically purchase authentic locally produced meat from the small domestic slaughter plants they claim to support is for Congress to change the rules. It’s time to follow through on “America First.”
The pandemic exposed the fragility of our highly concentrated food system. Understanding the barriers to purchasing local food by the federal government, the Biden administration established the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program (LFPA) in 2021 using American Rescue Plan Act funds. Administered by the USDA, the plan provided funds to state, tribal, and territorial governments to buy food from local and underserved farmers and distribute it to underserved communities and emergency food organizations, all without being constrained by federal rules. This essential program was canceled in early 2025 by the Trump administration, leaving small plants, many of which had received matching grants, with increased debt and no market. Unable to compete in an unregulated predatory marketplace, many of those plants have since shuttered or scaled back.
Without a fair, open, and competitive market, government programs like the Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program and SPUR have little to no value, only serving to bury small plants deeper in debt, making America even more dependent on imports and the big meatpackers that have failed us.
Why does government purchasing continue to favor the biggest importers of beef and cattle and those companies that are most opposed to mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) over local/regional suppliers who do not process imported cattle or beef at all – small plants that are completely transparent and proud to support American farmers, ranchers, and consumers?
New Rules Are Needed Now. Secretary Rollins should ask Congress to allow USDA to prioritize all meat purchasing at cost-plus pricing from small domestically owned slaughter plants, not allowing preferences for the big four meatpackers or preferring further processors who buying boxed beef from the big four and buy below-cost-of-production imported beef. This, along with a hide and offal market, would give small plants the incentive to build new infrastructure across the country, rebuilding the cowherd, safely feeding all Americans, while vastly improving rural prosperity.
Additionally, the U.S. Congress should direct the USDA, Justice Department, and Federal Trade Commission to immediately implement controls over market predators like the big four meatpackers, big retailers, big food management firms and big food service companies with all the existing anti-trust legislation within their power.
Before we can rebuild a food system that feeds people instead of corporations, we must begin the breakup of all overly concentrated markets.