When ZeroHedge asked leading figures in the MAHA agricultural movement how the Trump administration could work with American farmers and ranchers—an industry that rarely agrees on anything — they unanimously agreed that restoring Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) is a top priority.
In 2015, consumers and ranchers trusted the USDA to fairly grade and label meat, approving only the highest quality “product of the USA.”
“In 2013 and 2014, beef and beef prices rose to their highest nominal levels in history, and cattle producers finally began to profit from the market itself,” said Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA.
Proponents point to this profit increase as evidence that consumers prefer to buy U.S.-raised meat when they are assured of product transparency. However, it didn’t take long for “Big Four” meat producers to convince Mexico and Canada to file a trade barrier complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Since 2015, Congress has caved in to the demands of the Big Four and the WTO, tarnishing consumer confidence in the USDA seal with cheap imports.
Some progress was made in 2022 with the American Beef Labeling Act, introduced by then-Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD). However, the legislation still imposes significant restrictions on the four largest meat processors, which control 85% of the livestock market—and that number is growing.
“Products that have been substantially modified or reprocessed within the United States” can still be stamped and approved by the USDA as “product of the United States.” This includes imports of frozen meat or live animals raised in another country, as long as they are processed or packaged in the United States.
The consequences of such plagiarism have been disastrous for American farmers and ranchers, with the number of domestic cattle at a 70-year low and the United States losing farms at a rapid pace of 77 per hour.
Following the Trump administration’s recent promises and negotiations to make America whole again, COOL became a central focus at a press conference by the new chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee.
During the press conference, Chairman John Boozman (R-AK) – a former optometrist – signaled that he might not agree with American farmers.
“No, you know, it’s such a controversial issue,” Boozman said when asked about restoring COOL in the farm bill.
“So this is another issue that we need to look at and work through in the farm bill to see what the consequences are. So often you do things and they have unintended consequences. So, to make a decision and times change, the thinking changes. Sometimes you have to change the direction you’re going. But you have to do that or something like that through hearings or something like that to understand exactly what the consequences are one way or the other.”
The MAHA report, outlining solutions, is expected to be released by August. The policy outlines will be taken into account when the bicameral agriculture committees draft new versions of the farm bill, which is expected to take place in September.
Restore transparency to supermarket shelves – otherwise consumers will lose trust and turn to cleaner beef alternatives.
