In early December, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to investigate price fixing and anticompetition that could result in higher grocery prices or threaten the U.S. food supply.
The order instructs the attorney general and chairman of the Federal Trade Commission to each create a Food Supply Chain Security Task Force within their agencies to investigate the food sector.
“An affordable and secure food supply is vital to America’s national and economic security,” the executive order reads. “However, anti-competitive behavior, especially when carried out by foreign-controlled corporations, threatens the stability and affordability of America’s food supply.”
Trump’s order directs the task forces to bring forth enforcement actions and propose new rules to restore competition. The task forces will meet with Congress in six months’ time and will then provide progress updates within one year of the order’s implementation.
The attorney general is also directed to pursue criminal proceedings if there is evidence of criminal collusion.
“Sectors including meat processing, seed, fertilizer, and farm equipment may be vulnerable to anti-competitive manipulation that result in higher prices for farmers and consumers,” a White House fact sheet read. However, although ag sectors were cited, the USDA was not mentioned as being part of the task forces in the executive order.
The order also noted the increasing involvement of foreign-controlled companies in the food sector, potentially creating national security risks and driving up food costs, “issues the Task Forces are specifically directed to investigate.”
A month earlier, Trump called on the Department of Justice to investigate the country’s largest meatpackers, specifically those owned by foreign entities.
“For too long, a handful of giant meat packers have squeezed America’s cattle producers, shrunk herds, and jacked up prices at the grocery store,” a White House correspondence read.
Aid announced for farmers
In other recent news, USDA announced $12 billion in farmer “bridge payments” for temporary trade market disruptions and increased production costs. The payments are intended to aid farmers until provisions kick in from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Reference prices are set to increase between 10-21% for major covered commodities such as soybeans, corn and wheat and will reach eligible farmers on Oct. 1, 2026.
“The plan we are announcing today ensures American farmers can continue to plan for the next crop year,” said USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins in a statement. “It will allow farmers to leverage strengthened price protection risk management tools and the reliability of fair trade deals so they do not have to depend on large ad hoc assistance packages from the government.”
Up to $11 billion will be used for the Farmer Bridge Assistance (FBA) Program to provide relief for row crop farmers who produce barley, chickpeas, corn, cotton, lentils, oats, peanuts, peas, rice, sorghum, soybeans, wheat, canola, crambe, flax, mustard, rapeseed, safflower, sesame, and sunflower.
The remaining $1 billion of the $12 billion in bridge payments will be reserved for commodities not covered in the FBA Program, including specialty crops, though details are still under development.
The payments are authorized under the Commodity Credit Corporation Charter Act and will be administered by the Farm Service Agency.
Ag groups had mixed reactions to the bridge payments, calling them helpful, but urging for more work to be done.
“Farmers have weathered billions in economic losses that have only been partially offset by this bridge support and other Congressional packages,” said American Farm Bureau Federation President Zippy Duvall. “There is more work to do, and Farm Bureau is committed to working with Congress and the administration to provide additional assistance where it is needed.”
The National Young Farmers Coalition and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) called the payments “fleeting relief,” and that the FBA Program is insufficient on its own.
“It effectively excludes most specialty crop growers and does little to prevent the loss of farms or farmland due to acute financial hardship,” said Mike Lavender, NSAC policy director.
Farmers who qualify for the FBA Program can expect payments to be released by the end of February 2026. — Anna Miller Fortozo, WLJ managing editor
