Trump Revokes Biden Order Targeting Food System Consolidation
AigistAugust 26, 2025 | Source: Civil Eats | by Lisa Held
August 26, 2025 – President Donald Trump has revoked a Biden-era executive order that tasked the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) with curbing consolidation across the food system to improve fairness and competition for farmers and consumers.
A wide range of farm groups supported then-President Joe Biden’s 2021 order and the subsequent actions it jumpstarted, although some industry groups panned the plan. At the USDA, then-Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack invested more than $325 million in small and mid-size meatpacking plants, finalized the “Product of USA” rule, ensuring imported meat could no longer bear the label, and set up Regional Food Business Centers that created economic opportunities for small farms and food producers. He also finalized three rules under the Packers and Stockyards Act offering new protections for livestock producers.
Trump’s USDA canceled the Regional Food Business Centers program in July. In June, House Republicans included a provision in a proposed agricultural funding bill that would prevent the USDA from implementing or enforcing the new Packers and Stockyards rules. That bill is still pending.