(WKYT) – Kentucky cattle farmers are responding to President Trump’s announcement allowing more beef to be temporarily imported into the United States, an effort aimed at lowering the cost of beef at the grocery store.
Kentucky is the second-largest beef producer east of the Mississippi River.
The Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association says allowing 300,000 metric tons of imported beef into the supply chain is bad policy.
Farmers react at Monday sales
Monday morning sales continued as usual at Bluegrass Stockyards in Lexington, with cattle moving in and out of the gate.
Kentucky cattle farmer Phillip Douglas gave his take on the president’s effort to lower beef costs.
“I think it’s more or less a political move getting close to midterms and votes count and anything we can do politically as always in their favor they are going to try to push it through so I think it’ll be a short-term thing,” Douglas said.
Jim Akers is the COO of Bluegrass Livestock Yard Marketing Network.
“This announcement last Friday comes at a bad time we’ve got a lot of customers that bought cattle back in the spring and they were really high and they are selling now and you know barely recouping their first cost and you know everybody is really on edge so the timing of this was not good,” Akers said.
Impact on hamburger prices
Akers predicts the action will trigger a decrease in the cost of hamburger.
“I don’t think it will be the amount of decrease that President Trump communicated simply because it’s a complicated marketplace and there’s so many factors,” Akers said.
Cattlemen’s association raises concerns
The Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association put out a statement saying the timing of the announcement was completely out of touch with the challenges facing cattle producers.
Those challenges include declining head of cattle, droughts in the West, wildfires, land values, access to capital, aging of producers and closing of packing plants.
Dave Maples, executive vice president of the Kentucky Cattlemen’s Association, said the announcement has drawn a reaction from farmers.
“It has flat made my phone ring this morning and Saturday and Sunday, it kind of got our farmers in a little bit of a tizzy,” Maples said.
Farmers say the demand for beef is high, but the solution to bring down cost is short-term.
“Well long term what’s sustainable, do you want to rely on a foreign food, is that what you want,” Maples said.