Beef.com: A National Digital Platform for American Beef and America’s Cattle Ranchers
September 2026
Re: A Proposal to Establish Beef.com as a National Digital Gateway for American Beef, Independent Ranchers and Direct-to-Consumer Commerce
Mr. President, Secretary Rollins and Secretary Kennedy:
The actions announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on September 4, 2026 materially change the conversation surrounding the future of American beef.
USDA announced initiatives intended to expand interstate market access, strengthen small and regional processing, expand access to USDA grading, increase competition in livestock markets, improve consumer transparency and strengthen domestic beef production.
Those initiatives address much of the physical and regulatory infrastructure needed to strengthen America’s cattle industry.
We respectfully submit that America now also needs the digital infrastructure to connect those initiatives directly with ranchers, processors and consumers.
That platform could be:
BEEF.COM
One of Friday’s most consequential actions directs USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service to expand the Cooperative Interstate Shipment and Talmadge-Aiken programs so that more qualifying state-inspected meat can enter interstate commerce. USDA also announced plans for technical assistance and a centralized resource for small and very small processors.
Consider the commercial implication.
An independent rancher working with a qualifying processor may increasingly have the ability to reach customers not merely within one state, but throughout the United States.
Yet greater market access alone does not create a national market.
Someone must connect:
That is precisely where Beef.com can play a transformative role.
We envision Beef.com becoming the trusted national digital gateway through which American consumers can discover, learn about and purchase American beef.
Not as a replacement for USDA.gov.
Not as another government information website.
But potentially as a public-private national platform connecting government programs, independent producers, qualified processors, industry organizations and consumers through the most intuitive digital identity possible:
BEEF.COM
Imagine a consumer visiting Beef.com and being able to:
This is where federal policy can become consumer commerce.
USDA has announced plans to nearly double participation in its Remote Grading Program.
The program allows eligible facilities to use technology such as mobile-phone imaging to obtain official USDA beef grades remotely, reducing costs that can make traditional grading difficult for smaller processors. USDA specifically identifies Prime and Choice grading as important market signals throughout the supply chain.
That could translate directly into Beef.com.
A small processor serving independent ranchers could gain better access to official grading.
Beef.com could then provide consumers with standardized, recognizable product information.
USDA Prime — Montana Ranch
USDA Choice Angus — Nebraska
American Wagyu — Wisconsin
The technology already exists.
The producers already exist.
The consumers already exist.
What America does not yet possess is a single national marketplace capable of bringing all three together under one defining brand.
USDA has also committed $500 million through the Strengthening Processing for U.S. Ranchers program to support eligible small and mid-sized U.S. beef slaughter facilities. USDA says the program is intended to strengthen domestic processing capacity and expand market opportunities for ranchers.
This is critical.
Independent ranchers cannot build a national direct-to-consumer marketplace without adequate slaughter, processing, packaging and fulfillment capacity.
Beef.com could become the demand-generation component of that infrastructure.
USDA helps expand processing capacity.
American ranchers produce the cattle.
Regional processors prepare the product.
Beef.com creates the national marketplace.
Friday’s Executive Order also directs USDA, in consultation with the U.S. Trade Representative, to review federal authority concerning mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef, including possible regulatory and legislative recommendations.
Whatever final policy emerges from that review, Beef.com could provide the digital architecture for substantially greater voluntary and legally compliant transparency.
Imagine every participating ranch having a profile showing:
Consumers would no longer simply purchase a package of beef.
They could know who raised it.
That connection between producer and consumer is one of the greatest opportunities available to independent American ranchers.
America has thousands of independent ranchers.
They should not each have to separately build:
Beef.com can build that infrastructure once and make it available to qualified producers nationwide.
That is the economic power of a marketplace.
Amazon did not manufacture every product it sells.
Airbnb does not own every home.
Booking.com does not own every hotel.
A properly structured Beef.com would not need to raise every steer.
It would connect America’s beef producers with America’s consumers.
America already has extraordinary ranchers.
Extraordinary beef.
Agricultural organizations.
USDA programs.
Processors.
State beef councils.
Food-safety systems.
Grading infrastructure.
What it lacks is one universally understood digital gateway capable of bringing those resources together.
There is only one:
BEEF.COM
No explanation is necessary.
No invented brand needs to be taught to consumers.
The product and the address are identical.
The American beef industry already maintains an important digital presence at Beef.org, produced by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and funded by farmers and ranchers through the Beef Check-Off program, administered by the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and the Council of State Beef Councils. Beef.org has long served as the authoritative voice of cattlemen and the beef industry, coordinating information and representation across state associations, volunteer members and industry stakeholders.
Beef.com is not a replacement for Beef.org.
Beef.org’s role is authoritative and informational — the collective voice of the American beef industry.
Beef.com’s role would be commercial and consumer-facing — the national marketplace where American ranchers, processors and consumers actually transact.
The two are complementary.
If Beef.org has spent years successfully herding the many voices of the industry, Beef.com can help American cattlemen get back to what they do best — herding cattle — with a national marketplace ready to receive what they produce.
We are not suggesting that USDA should become an online steak retailer.
We are asking USDA to consider something considerably larger.
We respectfully request that USDA evaluate acquisition, licensing or an appropriate public-private partnership involving Beef.com, with an experienced commercial operator responsible for marketplace development and e-commerce execution.
Such an initiative could involve stakeholders including:
The objective should not be ownership of a domain for its own sake.
The objective should be building a national economic platform around the most powerful digital identity available to the American beef industry.
The September 4 initiatives recognize that American ranchers need more market access.
That regional processors matter.
That competition matters.
That grading accessibility matters.
That origin transparency matters.
That direct access to markets matters.
We agree.
And we believe Beef.com can become the digital platform through which many of those objectives ultimately reach the American consumer.
It is simple.
It is memorable.
And it is scalable nationally.
Mr. President, Secretary Rollins and Secretary Kennedy:
We respectfully request an opportunity to present this concept directly to USDA and HHS leadership.
We would welcome a discussion regarding:
The commercial terms can be discussed.
The operating structure can be negotiated.
The technology can be built.
But the digital asset itself cannot be recreated.
At a moment when the United States is investing substantial resources in strengthening its beef supply chain, regional processing capacity and rancher market access, we believe the country’s defining beef domain deserves serious consideration as part of that infrastructure.
USDA is helping strengthen the supply side of American beef.
Beef.com can help build the national demand side.
Together, the opportunity is to give American ranchers something they have never had before:
One National Digital Marketplace
Under One National Brand.
Beef.com — America’s Beef Marketplace.
We welcome the opportunity to discuss how Beef.com could serve America’s cattle producers, processors, consumers and rural communities for generations to come.