HUGE WIN for independent ranchers in North Dakota.
A judge just STRUCK DOWN the system that gave four trade groups exclusive power to nominate most of the state's Beef Commission.
That commission oversees the mandatory beef checkoff funds collected from cattle producers.
Ranchers are forced to pay into the beef checkoff, but most have no say in how their money is spent.
Instead, powerful trade associations have long controlled who sits on the board that makes those decisions.
Three independent ranchers took that system to court, and they won.
This ruling is a step forward, but ranchers need real checkoff reform so they have meaningful control over their own money.
"It's going to come too little too late."
Farmers are speaking out about the Trump administration's new diesel relief, and many say it misses the farms that need it most.
"Most of the policies with the current administration have generally benefited our larger farms, while anything that have benefited our smaller farms have generally been cut."
Relief that mostly flows to the biggest operations only speeds up consolidation and pushes independent farmers further behind.
"It's going to just benefit the largest farms."
Independent farmers need real solutions, not another program built for the biggest players.
@wqad
Diesel prices are crushing farmers, while major oil companies report billions in earnings.
See how Farm Action is calling out who's really profiting at the pump:
President Trump promised to put farmers at the center of his MAHA food reforms.
2 years later, Bayer and JBS are winning.
We just published a sweeping analysis on Trump’s broken promises.
Bookmark this.
This is his real record:
His DOJ supported Bayer-Monsanto’s pesticide liability shield.
His EPA reapproved dicamba, the notorious herbicide known for damaging crops and drifting onto neighboring farms.
He invoked the Defense Production Act to protect the supply of glyphosate.
His USDA canceled over $1 billion meant to help schools and food banks buy from local farms.
His USDA also moved to repeal a rule that bars meatpackers from misleading farmers about contracts, punishing them for joining a farmer group, or seeking another buyer.
Trump personally met with JBS co-owner Joesley Batista just days before announcing his infamous beef import plan.
That plan, according to our first 30-day analysis, caused steep declines in the prices paid to American ranchers.
And it hardly produced any relief for consumers at the grocery store.
Trump’s administration has also doubled down on commodity crop subsidies, leaving fruit and vegetable growers struggling more than ever.
There have been some positive steps taken.
We welcomed the USDA’s regenerative farming investment, Farm to School grants, school kitchen investments, loan guarantees for independent meat processors, and expanded specialty crop insurance.
But these steps are overshadowed by his administration’s broader policy of doubling down on protections for corporate interests at the expense of farmers’ rights.
Read our full blog on Trump’s broken promises to MAHA and farmers below:🧵
President Trump made big promises to farmers and MAHA supporters in 2024.
Those promises have overwhelmingly been broken.
Read our full analysis below:
The big meatpackers failed us during COVID, and rancher Mike Callicrate says they're failing us again.
"The big plants are failing us now."
Giant packing plants are closing across the country, leaving ranchers with nowhere to sell their cattle.
Meanwhile, the small local plants that could fill the gap can't compete with packers that dump their costs onto ranchers, workers, and communities.
Rancher Mike Callicrate’s solution is simple:
"If the government would prioritize purchasing to the small local regional plants... what you support prospers."
Instead of propping up the meatpacking monopoly, Washington should invest in the local processing ranchers actually need.
@MikeCallicrate
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Rancher Mike Callicrate has seen firsthand what happens when schools cut out the corporate middlemen.
A Colorado Springs school district dropped Sodexo, started buying local meat and produce, and saved money.
Mike says the food service giants have been running a racket:
"There's almost a cartel of food management companies... Compass, Sodexo, Aramark, and they really dominate food management across the country."
When a few corporations control what ends up on our kids' plates, taxpayers pay more and local ranchers get shut out.
"You go back to local, you scratch cook, you employ people that actually cook, you pay them better wages."
@MikeCallicrate
“The government is actually the largest purchaser of food in this country.”
“Billions of dollars every year.”
And “half of that money is going to just 25 corporations.”
Farm Action President Angela Huffman says a “handful of corporations” have a “stranglehold… on that entire food supply chain.”
That taxpayer money could create “great, dependable markets for independent farmers.”
But that’s not what’s happening.
“The USDA is focused on who can provide the largest volume at the cheapest price.”
“It needs to be more values-based.”
We support redirecting that money to regenerative farmers, family farms, and strengthening local and regional supply chains.
“That’s a huge priority for us.”
@AngelaSHuffman@algore
The Trump administration took away “$1 billion from local regenerative food systems and [shifted] that to the largest and most abusive players.”
Farm Action President Angela Huffman is calling out the backwards trade-off the USDA made with taxpayer dollars.
Bookmark this.
The biggest egg companies posted “record profits” during the bird flu outbreak by “hiking their prices.”
“They were under investigation by the Department of Justice for price-fixing.”
And the USDA still shifted $1 billion in taxpayer money away from local farmers to bail out these massive corporations after the bird flu outbreak.
“It’s really a statement about what we’re supporting.”
Huffman participated in this panel hosted by former Vice President Al Gore at the 2026 Climate Underground conference.
@AngelaSHuffman@algore
When harvest is ready, farmers can't wait for diesel prices to come down.
"It's frustrating."
They need fuel to get the job done, no matter what it costs.
"And what do you do? You just keep doing."
They can't control fuel prices, and they can't set the price they get for their crops.
"We're struggling, but we'll just keep doing and keep trying to do more."
Farmers keep showing up, even when the system is stacked against them.
They deserve markets that work for them, not for the corporations profiting off every crisis.
Farmers shouldn't have to keep paying more while powerful companies reap the gains.
Read Farm Action's analysis on high fuel prices and who's benefiting:
“A cattle family in Kentucky turned down $26 million for a 900-acre farm from a Fortune 100 company that wanted to build a data center.”
The fight against Big Tech’s data centers is sweeping rural America.
And rural America is more galvanized than ever.
Sawyer Whisler: “In Pennsylvania, people showed up yesterday asking the governor for a statewide moratorium.”
“No new data centers, period.”
“In Castleton, North Dakota, a company wants to put [a data center] on prime farmland that would pull 540 megawatts at peak.”
“The neighbors packed the cafe to say no.”
“North Dakota legislators got a whole committee on it now holding hearings on water use.”
“Over in Virginia, people are literally chanting, ‘Grow tomatoes, not data centers.’”
“It’s taken over the race for ag commissioner down in Texas.”
“And the one that should make every farmer listen and stop and think: Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, just passed a farmland preservation plan that blocks data centers and utility-scale solar on farm ground.”
@SawyerWhisler@barntalkshow
Rural America has heard the same pitch Big Tech is making for data centers before.
But rural communities always end up shouldering the costs of these massive projects, while corporations reap the rewards.
That is why we’re calling for a moratorium on all new hyperscale data center approvals until local protections are in place.
Farm Action President Angela Huffman just exposed how corporate lobbyists captured the MAHA process and co-opted farmers’ voices.
Bookmark this.
“The MAHA assessment… called out corporate capture of our government agencies.”
“Pesticides.”
“Farm consolidation.”
“The way that subsidies drive the production of unhealthy foods.”
“But what happened after that?”
“Secretary Kennedy reported meeting with 140 agribusiness lobbyists over the next three months.”
“Bayer’s Modern Ag Alliance was a huge lobbying force during that time.”
“They represent pesticide companies.”
“By September, the MAHA strategy was released.”
“It completely backed away from the issues that the government had said needed to be addressed.”
“And after that came even more protections for Bayer.”
“We saw President Trump invoke the Defense Production Act in an executive order to ramp up glyphosate production.”
“The Trump administration went to the Supreme Court and advocated on behalf of Bayer for a pesticide liability shield.”
And it’s not just MAHA that has been captured by industry.
Farmers’ voices have been “co-opted” by corporate lobbyists.
“Washington, D.C. too often accepts the voice of these corporate lobbyists as farmers’ voices.”
“One example… every farmer has to pay into the checkoff when they sell their commodities or cattle.”
“It’s a major USDA fund.”
“It’s meant for marketing and research.”
“But the USDA contracts the bulk of that money to lobbying organizations.”
“Bayer’s Modern Ag Alliance that upended the MAHA movement, a third of their money comes from USDA checkoffs.”
“The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, that’s the multinational meatpacker lobby, 70% of their budget is made up of USDA checkoff dollars.”
“They’re taking the money from farmers to the government [and] giving it back to these lobby groups to lobby for policies against the farmers.”
“The root issue is who speaks for farmers, who’s really benefiting from this.”
“A seed company or meatpacker or chemical company, their interests are inherently not the same as farmers’ interests.”
This panel was moderated by former Vice President Al Gore at the 2026 Climate Underground conference.
@AngelaSHuffman@algore
Diesel has hit $6.20 a gallon, right in the middle of harvest season.
For family farms, that hits every part of the operation.
"Diesel fuel affects everything, especially on a farm, like production-wise, harvest-wise."
Big corporations can pass higher costs on to shoppers.
Farmers usually can't.
"We've not went up on anything. We're just eating it ourselves."
Meanwhile, oil companies are raking in billions from refining.
Farmers shouldn't be left eating the costs while corporations cash in.
Iowa used to be built on hogs raised on family farms in every county, every corner, every community.
That money stayed local, on main streets and in small towns.
Then giant meat corporations moved in.
Farm Action Local Leader John Gilbert, an Iowa farmer, says it plainly:
"A very small handful of giant multinational... companies that are pulling all the profits out of Iowa."
When corporations siphon off the wealth, rural communities dry up, and farmers lose their independence.
@IowaPBS@MarketToMarket
Farm Action is fighting for independent farmers, ranchers, and consumers across the country.
We're on the front lines of the fight against corporate monopolies driving small farms out of business.
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