President Donald Trump is moving to give ranchers a new way around the powerful meatpacking companies that stand between their cattle and the grocery-store shelf, following backlash in farm country over his decision to allow more foreign beef imports.

Trump said Friday that he was authorizing legal documents to be drafted to give farmers and ranchers “the right to process their own food,” casting the move as an effort to break what he called a “nasty monopoly” in the meat industry.

The announcement came after cattle producers and some Republicans pushed back on Trump’s plan to temporarily allow tariff-free imports of up to 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef, a move intended to ease pressure on consumers facing high prices at the meat counter.

THE UNEXPECTED FORCE KEEPING BEEF PRICES HIGH AND WHY THE PRESSURE COULD LAST FOR YEARS

Consumers are still facing high beef prices as the nation’s cattle shortage keeps pressure on grocery-store shelves. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images / Getty Images)

For ranchers, however, the fight is not only about imports. It is also about who controls the path from pasture to plate.

Four companies — Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS USA and National Beef Packing Co. — control roughly 85% of the country’s meat-processing capacity. Ranchers have long argued that the concentration leaves them with too few buyers for their cattle and forces smaller producers to rely on distant, federally inspected slaughter facilities to bring beef to market.

Under current law, ranchers can slaughter and process animals for their own use, but meat intended for sale generally must be processed in facilities that meet federal food-safety and inspection requirements.

Trump has not released the legal details of his proposal, and it remains unclear how far an executive action could go in changing those rules. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the administration would begin unveiling beef-processing actions Monday, including steps to reduce red tape, support smaller processors and expand ranchers’ ability to sell meat across state lines.

A HISTORIC SHORTAGE IS SQUEEZING AN AMERICAN DINNER STAPLE AND RELIEF COULD BE YEARS AWAY

For ranchers, rebuilding their herds is a slow and costly process, meaning the supply crunch now pushing up prices is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. (Ty Wright/Bloomberg/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The political pressure comes as beef prices remain elevated and the U.S. cattle herd sits at its smallest level in roughly 75 years. Drought, high costs and years of herd liquidation have reduced domestic supply, while rebuilding the herd can take years.

That reality has put Trump in a difficult position, finding a way to ease grocery bills without further undercutting the ranchers producing the country’s beef.

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Ranchers are pushing for more control over how their cattle reach consumers as Trump targets the nation’s largest meatpackers. (Scott Olson/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Still, the proposal gives him a new way to address the affordability challenge by shifting the focus from imported beef to the meatpacking giants ranchers say are driving a wedge between what producers earn and what consumers pay.

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Almost half of parents said they’re worried about the cost of school uniforms, according to research by the charity Save the Children and the Baby Bank Alliance network.

Elise, a mum of three, has just picked up a new uniform for her son Charlie.

“It’s really expensive, I’ve got three kids you’ve got to get jumpers, T-shirts, trousers, shoes, double all of them because of the washing, so it’s amazing for saving money but also I never buy anything new if I can help it because it seems such a waste when there’s pre-loved which can be handed on.”

Elise said she can always find what she needs through the scheme.

“You can say ‘oh I’m really looking for some jumpers in age seven to eight or has anyone got the school uniform or the PE kit that we need’ and nine times out of 10 somebody would be able to go ‘oh yeah, I have actually I was going to pass that on or do something with it’ and then we swap it over.”

Jon started the scheme at his children’s school, Ysgol Treganna in Cardiff in 2022, and still organises the swaps for the school, working with deputy head, Gareth Evans.

“At the end of each half term, myself and Tom will look at what’s left in lost and found, basically what hasn’t been reclaimed and then Tom and his group of friends will then bag everything up and take them home to Jon to add to the website,” said Evans.

Jon’s scheme isn’t just about easing the financial strain on families, it’s also about sustainability.

He said: “This is helping families to save both their pocket and the planet and I think that extra dimension around the environment has really captured people’s interest in this initiative.

“There are 30,000 schools within the UK, all or most will be using school uniforms in one way shape or form, so the potential is definitely there to help many more schools.

“What matters most for me is the culture change and the change in sort of instinct around second-hand school clothes so that this becomes normal practice.”

Kingsbury High School in London, which has 2,000 pupils, is involved in the scheme.

Tara Randall, the school’s sustainability lead, says the initiative also takes away the stigma of asking for help with clothing your child and normalises swapping school clothes.

“There’s a certain street cred that kids like to follow, especially at secondary school. But this is done in a discreet way, so there’s no stigma.

“Parents can arrange their own drop-offs, pick-ups of uniforms, and, I guess the extra benefit on top of that is that you might find parents and carers from a community or connect in that kind of way, because it can feel very remote in secondary schools.”

Some families qualify for a grant in Wales, offering up to £200 per child to cover the cost of school equipment, although it is only available to families on a low income or children in local authority care.

In England, from September uniforms will be limited to three items with a school logo, such as a blazer, jumper or sportswear plus a tie for secondary schools, to help parents save money.

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