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President Donald Trump on Friday signed executive orders aimed at boosting the nation’s cattle industry by attempting to loosen major meatpackers’ grip on the industry and implementing new labeling standards that the president said would “require country-of-origin labeling across all foreign beef.”
Trump signed an order that will support the ability of U.S. producers “butcher, process, package, and sell their meat to consumers across state lines while maintaining the highest standards of food safety while avoiding being overcharged by monopolistic practices in the meat processing industry,” a White House fact sheet said.
The order directs the USDA secretary and the U.S. Trade Representative to study statutory and regulatory authorities that may permit the establishment of mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef products. Lawmakers and industry leaders have argued that permanent mandatory labeling would require congressional approval. “I understand Congress has something to do with that one,” Trump acknowledged, according to Politico. “So we’re putting it in front of Congress right away. It should be no problem.”
Trump also ordered his administration to begin the process of removing the gray wolf and Mexican gray wolf off the federal endangered species list.
The moves come amid anger from cattle producers over the administration’s plan to increase tariff-free beef imports as part of an effort to lower consumer prices ahead of this fall’s midterm elections.
Weekly market recap: Grain markets saw profit-taking and position-squaring Friday ahead of the three-day Labor Day weekend. The wheat rally ran into heavy profit-taking after midweek on talk of renewed Russia-Ukraine peace efforts that could ease Black Sea export bottlenecks, putting futures on track for a weekly loss. That pulled down corn, but dip buyers cushioned the blow, with firmer crude and fuel prices providing a tailwind alongside solid demand.
Soybean futures were particularly resilient, seeing a relief rally early in the week following EPA’s SRE announcement. Further deterioration in crop conditions and strong, steady demand from China also provided support.
Cattle futures stabilized late in the week on a round of solid short-covering and bargain hunting. Lean hog futures consolidated after a strong short-covering bounce, with cash markets remaining firm despite lackluster cutout performance.
- December soft red winter wheat fell 20 ¼ cents to end at $7.34, down 50 cents for the week.
- December corn fell 4 cents Friday to end at $5.36 ¾, clinging to a ¼-cent gain on the week.
- November soybeans lost 6 ½ cents to close at $13.09 ¾, leaving a weekly gain of 21 ¾ cents.
- December cotton fell 12 points to 86.33 cents, a fourth straight daily loss that left the contract down 505 points on the week.
- October live cattle fell $1.35 to $212.95, a gain of $1.225 on the week. November feeders lost 57.5 cents Friday to end at $314.725, for a weekly gain of $4.80.
- October lean hogs lost $1.15 to end at $82.30, trimming its weekly gain to 40 cents.
Sept. 15 deadline looms: To prevent missing out on 2026 farm program benefits, agricultural tax expert Paul Neiffer is advising producers to finalize changes in corporate structure by Sept. 15, though the actual Farm Services Agency paperwork can wait.
- “So if you’re just simply a sole proprietor, don’t worry about this. But if you were a sole proprietor and you bring another person into an entity, like an LLC, then you have to get that done by Sept. 15,” Neiffer told Chip Flory on AgriTalk Friday.
In a Farm CPA Report post, Neiffer noted a widespread misconception that a new Form CCC-902E must be submitted to county FSA offices by Sept. 15. The regulations announced on June 2 establish Sept. 15 strictly as a “snapshot date” that will determine an operation’s legal entity for the 2026 crop year, not a strict filing deadline.
That means operators should prioritize finalizing corporate conversions, tax elections and 100% ownership documentation with their attorneys and accountants by Sept. 15. FSA will accept operating plan updates after Sept. 15, but structural changes executed after that date will only count toward 2027, he explained.
“Spend the next week and a half with your attorney and your CPA, not in the FSA parking lot,” Neiffer wrote.
Hot August jobs report: The U.S. economy added 162,000 jobs in August, the Labor Department said Friday, well above the average estimate of 55,000 in a Bloomberg survey. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.1%. Data from the previous two months was revised up by 55,000 jobs. Treasury yields and the U.S. dollar both rose immediately after the data release as traders priced in a stronger probability of a quarter-point rate hike by the Federal Reserve later this month. August inflation data due next week will be more crucial when Fed policy makers meet.
Honeymoon over: President Donald Trump reacted to the data by threatening to cut off trade with countries that have surpluses with the U.S. unless the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates. “Lower the interest rates because the U.S.A. is a much stronger credit than it was just a short time ago!,” he wrote in a Truth Social post. “ A STRONG COUNTRY MEANS A LOWER INTEREST RATE - IT’S A BETTER CREDIT…Very simple! We should have the LOWEST RATE of any country in the World, like ‘the old days.’ Without the United States agreeing to allow them their big surpluses, and we could stop that immediately, they would no longer be considered financially ELITE!”
Trump would undoubtedly face legal challenges if he attempted to unilaterally embargo trade, analysts said, but expressed alarm over a tactic that would send domestic prices soaring, deliver an economic shock and invite retaliation by trading partners.
Trump had until now refrained from directly pressuring new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh to lower rates after having repeatedly and persistently criticized his predecessor, Jerome Powell for not moving faster to ease rates. “The Fed Board, with its great new leader, must get smart – BE PATRIOTS for a change,” Trump wrote.
Warsh last week delivered a hawkish speech at a monetary policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, underlining a commitment to getting inflation back to the Fed’s 2% annual target and saying that he wasn’t particularly encouraged by a slight moderation in this summer’s inflation data.