USDA, Interior, HHS, and SBA Announce Plan to Strengthen U.S. Beef Industry

Key Takeaways:

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of the Interior (DOI), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Small Business Administration (SBA) unveiled a coordinated plan to stabilize and grow the American beef sector.
• The initiative focuses on protecting ranchers, expanding processing and market access, and growing domestic and international demand for U.S. beef.
• Since 2017, the U.S. has lost over 17% of family-owned cattle operations, while consumer demand for beef has increased 9%.
• The plan emphasizes national food security, regulatory reform, improved risk management, and enhanced support for small producers.
• Actions include reopening grazing lands, expanding small processor capacity, promoting local beef in schools, and enforcing U.S.-origin labeling standards.

USDA Vows To Strengthen the Beef Industry Through Coordinated Action

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler jointly announced a series of measures aimed at reinforcing the American beef industry and supporting family ranchers.

The announcement follows years of contraction in the sector—over 100,000 operations lost in the past decade—and a national herd at its lowest point in 75 years. The multi-agency initiative seeks to make beef markets more stable for producers, more affordable for consumers, and more resilient for the long term.

“America’s food supply chain is a national security priority for the Trump Administration,” said Secretary Rollins. “We are protecting our beef industry and incentivizing new ranchers to take up the noble vocation of ranching.”

Key Priorities For The USDA: Protecting, Expanding, and Building

The USDA Beef Industry Plan outlines three main areas of focus:

1. Protecting and Improving the Business of Ranching – Expanding grazing access, reducing administrative delays, increasing disaster assistance, and supporting new and veteran ranchers through affordable risk management programs.
2. Expanding Processing, Transparency, and Market Access – Enforcing “Product of USA” labeling, reducing costs for small processors, increasing grading efficiency, and improving cattle market data transparency.
3. Building Demand Alongside Domestic Supply – Encouraging schools to source local beef, ensuring science-based dietary guidelines, and increasing consumer access to U.S.-raised meat products.

Secretary Burgum highlighted expanded grazing rights and streamlined permitting: “The Department of the Interior is slashing red tape and restoring grazing access on public lands to support the livelihoods of hardworking ranchers.”

Regulatory Reforms and Support for Producers

The plan includes deregulatory reforms under the Clean Water Act to remove costly compliance barriers for processors and a new USDA–DOI Grazing Action Plan to reopen up to 24 million acres of currently vacant grazing allotments.

Additionally, USDA will expand insurance premium subsidies for beginning ranchers, enhance coverage for disaster and predation losses, and prioritize funding for veteran-owned operations.

SBA Administrator Loeffler emphasized the economic dimension: “Ranches and farmers are the original small businesses. We’re supporting them with regulatory relief and access to government-backed loans to strengthen America’s food supply.”

Health and Nutrition Integration

Secretary Kennedy linked the beef strategy to broader health goals, emphasizing whole-food nutrition: “We are restoring whole foods as the foundation of the American diet and ending outdated stigmas against natural saturated fat in beef and dairy. We cannot Make America Healthy Again without America’s farmers and ranchers.”

Looking Ahead For The USDA's Plan

Implementation will begin in late 2025, with grazing reforms and small-processor funding rolling out in early 2026. The plan also includes efforts to expand school-based local beef procurement and to update national dietary guidelines to recognize beef’s nutritional role.

Together, the USDA, DOI, HHS, and SBA initiatives aim to rebuild the U.S. cattle herd, support ranchers’ profitability, and secure the beef supply chain as a matter of national economic and food security.