China Owns America’s Biggest Pork Producer

America’s largest pork producer is owned by a company based in China, the nation’s top agriculture official told Congress this year.

Story Snapshot

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says four companies control nearly 85% of U.S. meatpacking, and two are foreign-owned.
Two Brazilian firms and Cargill and Tyson control 85% of American beef processing, Rollins told lawmakers.
USDA has cut seven contracts tied to “nations of concern” and fired about 70 people linked to them.
A federal ban on Chinese farmland purchases still needs Congress to act, and it hasn’t passed.
Senate Democrats want USDA to release its findings and use existing antitrust laws instead.

A Blunt Warning From the Top Ag Official

Rollins told a House committee that the country’s biggest pork company is owned by a Chinese firm. She said nearly 85% of U.S. meatpacking capacity sits in the hands of just four companies, and two of them are foreign-owned. That single sentence has spread fast online, tapping into fears on both sides of the aisle about who really controls America’s food.

Rollins didn’t stop at pork. She said two Brazilian companies own two of the country’s biggest beef plants. Together with Cargill and Tyson, those four firms handle 85% of all beef processing in America. That kind of concentration means a handful of corporate boardrooms, some overseas, shape what millions of families pay for meat.

Falling Farm Income Meets Rising Food Imports

The warning comes as American farming hits a rough patch. In 2023, the United States became a major net importer of food for the first time in its history, according to USDA figures. That same stretch saw farm income drop by more than $90 billion between 2023 and 2024, one of the sharpest single-year declines ever recorded. Rural communities are feeling the squeeze directly.

USDA rolled out its National Farm Security Action Plan in July 2025, framing agriculture as a matter of national security, not just economics. The plan treats farmland, food processing, and supply chains as targets foreign adversaries could exploit, a shift that puts farming policy in the same conversation as defense policy.

USDA Cuts Ties, but Big Questions Remain Unanswered

USDA says it has already annulled seven agreements with countries it calls “nations of concern” and dismissed roughly 70 people connected to those contracts. Officials say another 550 entities tied to foreign adversaries could be next. Rollins has also floated “clawing back” farmland tied to the Chinese-owned pork company, though she hasn’t said which laws or orders would make that happen.

A full federal ban on Chinese citizens buying U.S. farmland still doesn’t exist. Rollins herself admitted that turning her warnings into a nationwide law requires Congress, and lawmakers have only come close, not crossed the finish line. When asked directly if the administration plans to force Brazilian owners to sell their beef plants to Americans, Rollins gave no specifics beyond saying food security is the goal.

Democrats Push for Proof and a Different Fix

Senate Democrats sent a letter demanding USDA make its findings public, tying the foreign-ownership issue to rising grocery prices. Notably, they didn’t ask for foreign owners to be kicked out. They asked USDA to use existing antitrust laws already on the books to go after any company, foreign or American, that breaks the rules through price-fixing or market manipulation.

🚨 JUST IN: USDA Sec. Brooke Rollins just sounded the alarm that the LARGEST PORK company in America is owned by the CHINESE 🤯

4 meat companies represent almost 85% PERCENT of all meatpacking — 2 of which are foreign-owned‼️

This must be reversed SWIFTLY!

ROLLINS: "Today,… pic.twitter.com/oBw5gTc4ab

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) July 21, 2026

That distinction matters. The Trump administration’s own Justice Department crackdown on meatpackers centers on possible collusion and price manipulation, not on foreign ownership by itself. Government data also show Chinese entities hold less than 1% of all foreign-owned farmland in the country, a fact that complicates the picture even as concern over consolidation grows. Whether the real fix is banning foreign owners or enforcing the antitrust laws already in place remains the open fight in Washington, and everyday families paying grocery bills are the ones waiting for an answer.