After-Writing Edit: Even though my articles are printed on Tuesdays, I usually write them a few days earlier. I initially wrote this mid last-week, and since writing it at least 30,000 pounds of Argentinian beef has already been recalled here in the US for bypassing safety inspections. Stay safe, guys!
It’s no secret that beef prices have skyrocketed in the last few years. Hamburger Helper is no longer the poster-boy for a cheap meal that it was twenty years ago. The number of cattle in the US is at a 75-year low, and the number has been decreasing more each year. There is less supply of beef, which drives the price up.
But why are there less cattle?
For starters, the weather has been insane the past few years and the droughts cave made hay more expensive. Then, with the inflation of the past five years, all of the other costs that ranchers incur have also risen exponentially, which has led several of them to quit and sell their land. Then, there’s the vicious supply-and-demand cycle. Beef is expensive right now, and it’s not guaranteed to stay that way, so a lot of farmers are choosing to send more cows to the slaughterhouse in recent years, instead of keeping them and breeding them to increase their herds.
All in all, the profit-margins for ranching are getting slimmer by the year, and the argument that the government needs to provide relief is gaining traction. American cattle is such an important resource. It’s part of our culture. Americans don’t want foreign beef.
The only time in recent years that they have been helped was in 2020, during Covid, when pretty much everyone also got help. The Big Beautiful Bill does help ranchers and farmers, but the tax write-offs are not quite enough to benefit the decline that is happening across our farms substantially.
If banks can get a government bailout every few years, why can’t we do more to support our American farmers?
Any rational lawmaker would propose a bill that encourages ranchers to expand their herd size. Perhaps they provide a tax break to farmers who increase their numbers by a certain percentage yearly. Or maybe they can do something about the tariffs on things like metals and machinery that are affecting their profits.
But this week, finally, after a large amount of public outcry over beef prices, President Trump announced a solution. He will be importing 300,000 tons of tariff-free beef for the next 90 days, with a commitment that the beef would be sold at 25% below market rate.
It’s basically a spit in the face to American ranchers.
He claims that it will help the American beef herd grow by reducing demand for American beef, so more cows will be allowed to live and breed. But what about the ranchers who will have significantly less profit over this time period? If there isn’t a demand for beef, the ranchers can’t afford to keep their already stretched-thin farms running.
So where is this imported beef coming from? The entire Trump administration was originally refusing to tell us. You know how chicken, shellfish, produce, and most other things require a country-of-origin label on their packaging? Interestingly enough, beef does not. So, the origin of any beef we buy from the store is legally allowed to remain a mystery.
But this comes on the heels of President Trump’s alliance with Argentina’s beef industry. In February, he quietly allowed for the importing of 80,000 tons of beef from Argentina. When a reporter asked him about that decision, saying “What about the US farmers who are suffering?”, he replied “Argentina is fighting for its life. Do you understand me? They’re dying.”
I can’t defend our government spending money to support another country’s economy while ours is struggling.
Another thing about Argentina is that China also imports beef from them and this year it refused a 22-ton shipment of Argentinian beef because it tested positive for chloramphenicol, a harmful antibiotic that is banned in most of the world. When we import foreign food, we trust that they have the same health standards as we do, and that is not always the case. Who knows what kinds of other chemicals it could expose us to?
So, at least for the next 90 days, if you can’t verify the country of origin on your beef, I would avoid it. Do not buy unlabeled foreign beef and instead, support your local farmers. They need it now more than ever.
Taryn Ogletree is a local small business owner and author with previous experience of several years in finance.