For years, a handful of powerful corporations have wielded control over the nation’s food supply, with small farmers and ranchers being hit the hardest.
Now, the Trump administration says it is finally taking action.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins tells Blaze Media co-founder Glenn Beck that president Trump “will arguably go down in history as the most pro-rancher, pro-farmer president in American history.”
And under this administration, Rollins explains that officials are fighting “decades of massive consolidation in agriculture, offshoring of our food supply in agriculture, the loss of hundreds of thousands of farms and ranches.”
“There is no national security, there is no freedom, unless we can feed and fuel ourselves,” she adds.
And Glenn, who operates a ranch himself, is no stranger to this struggle.
“I’ve got to go to Denver to sell my cows. I can’t get them processed, really, in my state because I don’t process enough meat. … People can’t go and process their beef in our state and then sell them to the local grocery store,” he explains.
“Which, you know, I don’t understand the people on the left. They’re for these big huge conglomerates. And then on top of it, they understand farm to table,” he says. “How do they not understand that same concept with beef and chicken?”
Glenn also points out that “85% or almost 90% of all beef is processed through these big four.”
“It was not like that 20 years ago. It’s never been like this. This is a massive monopoly,” he says, before asking, “Are you going to make it easier for people to be able to build processing plants in their own states and get state inspections?”
“Yes,” Rollins answers.
“What we have done over the last year is really invested in small and midsize packing. So that a co-op, a group of farmer-owned — we’ve got some great examples of this, by the way, around the country that are building this out with the help of USDA grants and loans,” Rollins says.
“And there is an opportunity here. … A few weeks ago, Tyson announced the closure of three of their plants. They’re shifting a lot of their processing. … That opens up, Glenn, about 20% of the market for smaller and midsize companies to come in. American-owned, to rebuild and to catch some of that market that is now opening up,” she continues.
“So as tough as that decision was, that announcement was — I actually think the long-term implications are very positive for this industry,” she adds.
To enjoy more of Glenn’s masterful storytelling, thought-provoking analysis, and uncanny ability to make sense of the chaos, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.
Across the country, cities and counties are implementing temporary moratoriums on new data center construction. My city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, is no exception. Petitions are now circulating asking the city to adopt a one-year moratorium as constituents question the long-term impacts of rapid expansion.
While these concerns have been present for some time, the proposed annexation of 1,260 acres of ranch land west of the city has intensified skepticism about whether large-scale data center development actually benefits our community.
What happens when existing data centers need more power than their private substations can supply?
Cheyenne currently has 12 fully operating data centers. When these facilities arrived, Black Hills Energy implemented a tariff requiring large data users — those with electricity loads above 13 megawatts — to build their own substations and pay for their own power. This system was designed to shield residents and small businesses from rate increases. In the short term, it made sense.
The long-term question, however, is what happens when existing data centers need more power than their private substations can supply? If they must tap into the main power grid, the system in place that protects ratepayers could be strained. Before we approve a dramatic expansion of this industry, we need to study potential impacts to the power grids.
Water usage is another important question. According to the Cheyenne Board of Public Utilities and Cheyenne LEADS, all local data centers currently use around 1.2% of Cheyenne’s total water supply.
This low figure is possible because most new facilities use closed-loop cooling systems. However, projections suggest Cheyenne could someday host 40 to 70 data centers. Even with efficient systems, scaling up at that magnitude requires answers about flushing cycles, chemical additives, long-term cumulative water draw, and environmental impacts.
These questions are reasonable and very important for a community in a semi-arid region.
Security considerations must also be part of the discussion. Loudoun County, Virginia, hosts more than 200 data centers, but its proximity to Washington, D.C., and major federal facilities provides a level of deterrence that Cheyenne does not share.
Wyoming is one of the most rural states, so a dense cluster of data centers could present an attractive target for hostile actors. Our region’s missile sites were intentionally hidden and widely dispersed. Data centers built closely together inside a city make a very large target.
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We must also consider the impact on agriculture — one of the cornerstones of Cheyenne and Laramie County’s economy. A data center requires the usage of at least 225 acres or more of land, according to the World Resources Institute.
Rising land values driven by industrial demand could potentially price out ranchers and farmers, accelerating the loss of agricultural land. In 2025, according to the Wyoming Farm Bureau, agriculture contributed $163 million to Laramie County’s economy, the second highest in Wyoming.
Undermining that sector would have long-term consequences far beyond the next development cycle.
This discussion is not about rejecting data centers altogether. They play a role in national security and economic diversification. Most of the data centers currently operating or under construction in Cheyenne’s business parks have been net positives.
The real question is how many facilities Cheyenne can responsibly support without compromising our infrastructure, safety, agricultural industry, or quality of life.
For these reasons, I have sponsored a 12-month moratorium on new data center construction. This pause gives our city the time to analyze future power needs, water demand, land use, and security implications before committing to a future we cannot reverse.
Whatever the administration's real actions turn out to be, somewhere past the sixty day mark when these orders might turn into policies, Congress continues to just sit there like a speed bump.
Traffickers use falsified paperwork and black-market identification tags to launder smuggled animals into legitimate Mexican commerce.
Instead of looking for short-term Band-Aids to mask the beef price problem heading into the mid-terms, the Trump admin should instead focus on ways to incentivize heifer retention in order to increase long-term cattle supply.
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Pro-amnesty Republicans are allowing the agriculture industry to shut out American workers in favor of foreign migrants.
Dozens of House Republicans are pushing a mass amnesty bill that would expand a visa program for illegal alien agriculture workers and give many of them legal status. Forty-seven Republicans have signed onto a bipartisan bill in the House that would allow illegal aliens who work in agriculture as of May 31, 2026, to obtain […]
A rancher creating a bespoke protein product has no direct control over the way his cows become meat.
America’s energy-dependent food supply is highly vulnerable to a global spike in oil prices and to many other potential disruptions.
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