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President Donald Trump’s beef import plan aims to cut prices, but cattle ranchers say it misses what’s crushing them most — the power of meat packers.
“Meat packers have created a system where they win no matter what — at the cost of everyone else,” said Will Harris, a fourth-generation cattleman and owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia.
Harris, who plans to hand off the operation to his children, said his farm handles every step of production, from raising cattle to processing and selling beef, giving him a clear view of how prices are set.
AMERICA’S SMALLEST CATTLE HERD IN 70 YEARS MEANS REBUILDING WILL TAKE YEARS AND BEEF PRICES COULD STAY HIGH
Sixth-generation cattle rancher Mark Kirkpatrick feeds heifers on the Stoker-Kirkpatrick Ranch in Post, Texas. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
At the center of that pricing power sit the “Big Four” — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef — anchoring the U.S. beef supply chain from pasture to plate.
Together, the packing titans process about 85% of the grain-fattened cattle that become steaks, roasts and other supermarket cuts.
“The U.S. beef market is so highly concentrated that a small number of dominant packers control processing, distribution and pricing. This allows them to pay ranchers less for cattle while charging consumers more at the store. When cheap imported beef enters the system, it allows packers to increase their margins,” Harris told Fox News Digital.
It’s a concern echoed deep into cattle country.
Texas cattle rancher Cole Bolton said he sees the same problem in the Lone Star State.
IN TEXAS CATTLE COUNTRY, ONE RANCHER WELCOMES TRUMP’S FOCUS ON DECADES OF THIN MARGINS
Cattle rancher Cole Bolton and his wife in Texas. (Courtesy of Cole Bolton)
“What the real issue is, is the price differential between the big four packers and what they’re paying us for the product,” said Bolton, the owner of K&C Cattle Company.
Those margins, Bolton said, have been squeezed for decades. “Ranchers have dealt with such thin margins of profitability for the last 20 years.”
While ranchers like Bolton and Harris say Trump’s temporary expansion of U.S. beef imports from Argentina may help ease prices in the short term, both warn it is no substitute for rebuilding domestic production.
“Imports should be a bridge, not a long-term replacement,” Harris said. “We must rebuild the American cattle herd, protect American farmers and ensure transparency, so consumers understand where their beef comes from. Long-term affordability depends on a healthy, resilient domestic cattle industry — not permanent dependence on foreign beef.”
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Brad Randel rounds up some of his Black Angus cattle to sell at auction on Sept. 12, 2022, in McCook, Nebraska. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Years of drought, high feed costs and an aging ranching population have thinned herds, leaving the U.S. cattle supply at its lowest level in more than 70 years.
“I think it’s going to take a while to fix this crisis that we’re in with the cattle shortage. My message to consumers is simple: Folks, be patient. We’ve got to build back our herds,” Bolton told Fox News Digital.
He noted that the cattle industry, over the last five years, has weathered one setback after another, from market turmoil to extreme weather conditions.
