President Trump says he's coming for "Big Beef" — announcing Friday that he's ordering up legal paperwork to let American farmers and ranchers process and sell their own meat, cutting out the four corporate giants he says have turned the industry into a "nasty monopoly."

"There are, essentially, 4 of them, a very non competitive number, and they make life miserable for our wonderful Farmers and Ranchers," Trump wrote, according to reporting on the announcement. "I am authorizing legal documents to be drawn in order to allow Farmers and Ranchers to be given the right to PROCESS THEIR OWN FOOD."

The target: Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS USA and National Beef Packing Co., which together handle an estimated 85% of all U.S. steer and heifer purchases — a concentration so tight the Justice Department is already investigating the four for possible price-fixing. Right now, ranchers who want to sell meat across state lines generally have to route it through one of those USDA-inspected giants, even if a smaller local processor is closer and cheaper.

Rollins promises "big announcements" Monday

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins is set to detail the specifics starting Monday, according to Cowboy State Daily's coverage out of cattle-heavy Wyoming, including rescinding "outdated guidance," waiving processing red tape, adding technology for faster safety inspections, expanding ranchers' ability to sell across state lines, and boosting support for small processors. Trump has not signed a final executive order, and the existing federal inspection framework remains in place for now.

The idea traces back to an interview with Fox host and rancher Glenn Beck, who pushed Trump to loosen the rules he says squeeze small operators out of the business.

Not everyone's cheering. The Meat Institute, which represents the very packers Trump is targeting, warned that letting uninspected meat into commercial markets could be a food-safety problem. Even ranchers who like the idea are wary: former National Cattlemen's Beef Association president Mark Eisele told Cowboy State Daily the plan has merit but carries real risk.

"If we have one illness or one outbreak, it would just be a black eye to the industry."

The bigger irony is that many of the same ranchers Trump says he's rescuing are still steaming at him over a separate move — his push to import up to 300,000 metric tons of tariff-free Argentine and other foreign beef to knock down record-high grocery prices. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association tore into that plan, with CEO Colin Woodall saying the group "cannot stand behind the President while he undercuts the future of family farmers and ranchers." Wyoming rancher group Meriwether Farms went further, calling it "an absolute betrayal to the American cattle rancher." Trump has fired back on Truth Social that ranchers are only profitable now because of his tariffs on foreign cattle, including a 50% levy on Brazil.

What's next: watch for Rollins's Monday rollout of specific rules, and for how the meatpacking lobby and the DOJ's ongoing price-fixing probe respond once actual paperwork — rather than a Truth Social post — is on the table. Congress could also weigh in if the changes require new statutory authority rather than agency guidance.