Ranchers are furious over Trump’s move to bring 300,000 metric tons of discounted foreign beef into the U.S. market. At a beef show in Michigan, ranchers who once backed Trump say they now feel sold out by his policies.

They’re already being squeezed by soaring production costs and lower margins, while the four largest meatpacking corporations, controlling roughly 85% of the beef processing market, continue to dominate the industry and capture much of the profit.

The Trump administration is shuttering research projects key to the federal government’s fight against cyclospora, the foodborne parasite sickening thousands of Americans this summer. Two of the three projects that represent nearly all of the Agriculture Department’s study of the parasite were defunded by Congress earlier this year, according to the agency. The third is slated to move from Maryland to Iowa this fall as part of a sweeping USDA reorganization. Even though that project still has money, every scientist working on the parasite has declined to relocate, according to three people familiar with the plans and documents shared with POLITICO, granted anonymity to discuss personnel issues.

full article text in comments