(WAVE/WKYT) – You see the sticker shock every time you go to buy beef or steak at the grocery store; however, the Trump Administration made a move this week to lower beef prices, and that’s left some American beef farmers shocked.
Right now, the average price for ground beef is $6.89 a pound compared to about $4.25 a pound for chicken and $3.50 for ground pork.
WAVE spoke with cattle farmers at the Kentucky State Fair to get their take on the government’s plan to allow more beef imports.
Todd Craig has spent his life raising beef cattle in Kentucky.
“I’d rather be around cows than people,” he said. “They got better manners most of the time.”
And Craig said most cattlemen mind their manners at the Fair and don’t talk about more imported beef coming to America.
“It’s kinda split either way,” he said. “I don’t really talk to people about it. It’s just a good way to start an argument.”
But the National Farmers Union is talking angrily about a 60% increase in imports over the next 90 days, saying monopoly meat packers can mix cheap imported beef with American beef and pocket the difference with no guarantee consumers will ever see lower prices.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was in Iowa on Friday, Aug. 21, defending the policy despite the pushback from farmers and some GOP candidates.
“Ultimately, it will be such a value add and value plus, just as all the questions about what he did a year ago with Liberation Day. Like I say, 20 new trade deals cut the ag trade deficit in half,” Rollins said. “I think this is going to be very positive for the American farmers.”
The total U.S. cattle herd stands at a 75-year low for several reasons. Farmers sold off many cattle because of the recent drought, plus rising feed and fuel prices, causing a shortage now and leading to even better prices at market. A full-grown steer can bring $3,000 or more.
Beef prices got so high at auction over the past couple of years that a lot of farmers were even selling their females, their heifers, so that means fewer calves being born, fewer steers being raised and less meat going to market, and that’s what’s pushed prices through the roof.
Building back the beef herd takes a lot of time.
“Even if we kept every heifer that was born today, it’s still gonna be two years before she has a calf, so it’s gonna take us a while,” said cattle farmer Adam Scruggs.
And while the Trump Administration hopes you’ll soon see lower beef prices in the store, more imports worry farmers who are trying to raise more steers and pay the bills.
They’re afraid the additional imports will push down market prices for what they sell. Imports from Mexico were halted a year ago due to screwworm concerns, exacerbating the shortage, but that ban was lifted this week. That could also help bring prices down at the store.
Most imported beef comes from Brazil, Australia, Canada and Mexico.