09/08/2026
The independent farmer takes the risk. So why does he keep getting fewer choices?
Land. Livestock. Feed. Fence. Equipment. Vet bills. Weather. Predators. Markets.
Then after carrying all that risk, farmers can still be boxed in by too few processors, too few buyers, expensive inputs and regulations written for a system increasingly dominated by scale.
Nu Podunk Farm’s position is simple:
We support reforms that give independent farmers more competition, more market access, more ownership and more choices — without sacrificing food safety.
And right now, some of what the Trump Administration is doing deserves attention.
On September 4, President Trump directed USDA to strengthen Packers and Stockyards Act enforcement, investigate potentially unfair or anticompetitive conduct, expand opportunities for small processors and interstate market access, and review meat-inspection requirements that don’t advance essential food safety.
Why does competition matter?
USDA’s own Economic Research Service reports the four largest meatpackers handle roughly 85% of steer and heifer purchases and 67% of hog purchases.
That doesn’t automatically mean wrongdoing.
But fewer choices for farmers should concern everybody.
Nu Podunk Farm isn’t anti-business.
We are a business.
Processors should make money. Suppliers should make money. Farmers should make money.
But nobody should be guaranteed a captive farmer.
And nobody gets a blank check from us.
Not Trump, the USDA or Big AG
We’ll support policies that actually give independent producers another processor, another buyer, another market and another path to the customer.
And we’ll call it out when they don’t.
We don’t need government to save the family farm.
Give us a fair field, stop unnecessarily limiting our choices, and let us compete.
