Live free or starve!

New Hampshire legislators are trying to bring a semblance of freedom back to the meat market.

New Hampshire’s House passed a bill on January 7 that would allow farmers to slaughter and process livestock on the farm and use local “custom” slaughterhouses without a USDA inspection. This would permit direct-to-consumer sales of individual cuts of meat, but only within New Hampshire.

Given the national shortage of beef and other meat-processing facilities, expanding local meat processing would be a win for everyone. It increases consumer choice, improves affordability, enables successful local food systems, and improves food security. The New Hampshire bill reflects a revolt by states against longstanding federal laws that have centralized U.S. meat processing, crushed small producers, and prevented citizens from transacting with one another.

There is a shortage of USDA-inspected meat processing facilities in the United States. Nonetheless, every animal slaughtered in the U.S. whose meat can be sold must be processed at one of these facilities, by law. New Hampshire is trying to change that.

New Hampshire’s initiative, HB 396, is modestly titled “AN ACT relative to the processing of beef cows, swine, sheep, and goats at facilities not certified by the United States Department of Agriculture.” Federal restrictions on state businesses have undermined local farms for decades. The Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 was broadened to encompass intrastate sales of meat under the 1967 Wholesome Meat Inspection Act. This law drove up compliance costs, put most local slaughterhouses out of business, helped large processing companies gain control of meat processing nationally, and increased prices.

As Attorney Pete Kennedy observed in 2020,

the Wholesome Meat Act has done tremendous damage to local slaughterhouse infrastructure around the country. In 1967 there were nearly 10,000 slaughterhouses in the country; today there are [fewer] than 3,000.

The bottleneck caused by the lack of slaughterhouses has frustrated small livestock operations in getting their products to market and has led to an inability to meet the overall demand for locally produced meat. The 1967 Act has been one of the worst laws ever passed for local food; what’s more, it was known from the beginning that the Act would have the effect it did.

Where’s the Beef?

By 2023, four companies controlled 85% of the U.S. beef market and 67% of the pork market, and two companies controlled 45% of the chicken market. New Hampshire’s effort to allow its small farmers and citizens to buy and sell freely seeks to counter this dangerous monopolistic trend.

Federal laws and agency regulations that were enacted under the claim of health and safety have instead led to industrial consolidation. Large meatpacking facilities, despite USDA inspections, regularly produce contaminated products.

Severe droughts in recent years further aggravated the situation for small farmers as grasslands withered but they could not access slaughter and processing services for their animals. Livestock trailers were backed up for miles in the heat, and farmers were often paid only a pittance for their livestock because they had insufficient grazing land and no alternative processing facilities. As the processors grew to become cartels and tightly control livestock markets, farmers were unable to earn a living raising animals.

Food Liberty = Liberty!

New Hampshire’s defiant bill challenges a federal regulatory system that favors large corporate processors over small family farms. America’s cattle herd is the smallest it’s been in 75 years. Farms are going bankrupt while meat prices are at record highs. The nation cannot meet either domestic or foreign demand for high-quality U.S.-grown meats. Federal control has smothered economic opportunity. The free market has been sabotaged.

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New Hampshire’s bill, if passed by the N.H. Senate and enacted, would permit small farms to slaughter up to three cows, five swine, or ten sheep or goats per month in a sanitary manner. This is a reasonable way to remove the yoke from small farmers and allow them to serve their local communities.

A National MAHA Movement

Americans needn’t hail from the “Live Free or Die” state to understand that small farmers and their customers simply wish to engage in the same local commerce as their forebears. For decades, small farmers have suffered from unfair regulations and competition from imported meat and other foodstuffs. In 2025, the United States imported 50 billion dollars’ worth of food more than it exported. The COVID pandemic and recent droughts revealed the calamity that can result from an overcentralized food system.

New Hampshire is on the front lines of a battle to bolster local food production. If Americans are to regain the right to buy fresh, local meat from well treated animals raised by their neighbors, New Hampshire’s bill is the bellwether. New Hampshire residents can contact their state senators to support HB 396. The rest of Americans must push for similar laws that support the availability of local food.

We must live free or starve!

(Originally published at American Thinker.)