Beef Just Got a Little Cheaper…But At What Cost?

A woman shops for beef in a local grocery store. Looking at the grocery store, the beef prices are lowering, but the average consumer is not aware of how this is affecting the lives of cattle farmers. Photo Credits: Vivian Kaufman 

Vivian Kaufman, Staff Writer for The Powderhorn

On September 4, Donald Trump announced mass importing of foreign beef into America, without triggering higher tariffs. This order was put in place to lower beef prices and make it more accessible for American consumers, who consume roughly 30 billion pounds of beef each year. Local cattle farmers and livestock agents are feeling the effects of this executive order in various ways. For some it’s a temporary inflection, for others it's a difficult addition to the already turbulent times in the cattle industry.  

“You may go to the grocery store, and the beef is going to be a little less expensive. But it's just going to be a temporary thing, and you're not supporting American farms. You're supporting foreign farms. Where is this beef really coming from? Do they have the same regulations and standards that we do?” said Stephanie Ogle, a marketing teacher at Watauga High School. “ I would encourage everybody to buy American beef.”  

A common perspective in the cattle industry is that this executive order is a temporary bother, and that it's not helping anyone out in the long run. Along with the disruption for farmers and vendors, this shift also affects the beef consumers. 

“So the consumers are concerned as well. Nobody wants to pay high beef prices, but they would rather pay higher beef prices and know where their food is coming from, than pay lower beef prices and not know which country their beef is even coming from.” said Micah Orfield, a prior livestock agent, current cattle farmer, and worker for the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, a nonprofit that works with farmers.

One common distinction between beef sourced in America versus foreign countries is that we have more information on the regulation process for American beef.  We know more about the regulations and distance the beef travels in America, so consumers who choose the cheaper beef are mostly opting for a less ensured choice.

“The United States has worked very hard over the past 50 years to try to make sure that we are providing a safe, wholesome product. We have a program called Beef Quality Assurance that I actually help teach for the producers in this county, and extension is a big part of helping teach across the country.” said Kendra Phipps Carson, who also works with the NC Cooperative Extension.  “That has to do with educating on how our husbandry practices on the farm relate to the type of beef that ends up on your plate, and how we can be better stewards of those animals to provide a better end product.” 

The cattle industry in America has been consistent and successful, from regulations to producing quality beef. This makes the implementation of foreign beef dubious to some, given how much its sourcing may differentiate from the beef in the United states. 

“It seems like [Donald Trump] changed a few things, so some of the American ranchers got pretty upset about that, which makes sense. We don't want to import beef from another country when our regulations are just a little bit different,” said Orfield.

For many farmers, the executive order is a short-term setback. Even though it may not have extreme effects on their business, it’s no help in these already trying times for many cattle farmers. Between Hurricane Helene and the raise in diesel prices, the cattle market has been fluctuating with many factors. 

“We went from the wettest to the driest in two years. I had to sell half of my sheep flock just to make sure I had enough grass this summer. There's a lot of farmers that are concerned,” said Orfield. “They're going to have to start feeding hay early. But there was not much of a hay crop, either. So if they start feeding their hay early, then that means they're not going to have enough to make it all the way through wintertime into the spring. And so they're either going to have to buy more hay, or they're going to have to sell their cattle. At this point, if you have to start selling cattle, then everybody else is probably selling cattle, and the market's already flooded. So you're losing money there as well.”