Politics
Beef import plan coincides with falling rancher prices, modest grocery savings, watchdog says
A Farm Action review of the policy’s first 30 days found cattle prices paid to ranchers fell sharply, while ground beef prices at stores dipped by 13 cents per pound. Tennessee farm groups have warned that more imports could discourage efforts to rebuild the U.S. cattle herd.
A federal move to ease tariffs on imported beef has delivered only modest grocery savings so far while cattle prices received by U.S. ranchers fell significantly, according to an analysis by Farm Action, a farmer-led nonprofit watchdog organization.
The review of the policy’s first 30 days found live cutter cow prices dropped 12.2%, from $140.68 to $123.47 per 100 pounds. Prices for dressed cutter cows fell 13.9%, from $321.98 to $277.32 per 100 pounds. The analysis tracks price changes during that period; it does not establish that the import policy alone caused the declines.
At grocery stores, the average price of ground beef fell 13 cents per pound, from $6.92 to $6.79 — a decrease of less than 2%, the analysis reported.
President Donald Trump announced Aug. 21 that his administration would ease out-of-quota tariffs on as much as 300,000 metric tons of imported beef. He said foreign exporters would sell their beef at a 25% discount as part of the arrangement.
Farm groups, including the Tennessee Farm Bureau and Tennessee Cattlemen’s Association, had criticized the plan, warning that additional competition could weaken incentives for ranchers to expand herds while producers face high costs and historically low cattle inventories. Tennessee Cattlemen’s Association Executive Vice President Dale Parker said the group supports affordable beef but cautioned that short-term measures should not come at the expense of domestic producers.
“Ranchers are seeing steep declines in the prices they receive, and consumers still haven't seen clear, meaningful relief at the grocery store,” Sarah Carden, Farm Action’s senior director of research and policy, said in a statement.
Beef prices have risen amid a shrinking U.S. cattle herd. Drought has damaged grazing land and raised feed costs, while beef and veal prices were 9.4% higher in July than a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The American Farm Bureau Federation has said beef prices increased more than 122% over five years.
Farm groups argue that rebuilding the domestic herd will take time and could be undermined if ranchers see lower returns. The import policy’s early price changes leave the central tension unresolved: how to ease costs for consumers without further discouraging the producers needed to expand the U.S. supply.