Miranda H. Lewis
Carter County Times
Apparently, beef is where inflation has finally become unacceptable.
A 12-pack of pop is pushing $12. Families can spend more than that on a couple of seasonal coffees without anyone in Washington stepping in. But when ground beef costs more, the solution is to bring in up to 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef product tariff-free for 90 days and sell it below the American market.
We’re being told this will lower prices and give the American cattle herd time to grow.
But who exactly is supposed to grow that herd?
The same farmers and ranchers whose cattle are about to compete against foreign beef intentionally brought in and priced below our market?
You don’t strengthen American agriculture by undercutting the Americans doing the work.
I’ve lived on a farm my entire life. Today, I sell our farm-fresh meat directly to families across the country. I don’t claim to be an economist or a policy expert, but I do know what it costs to keep a farm operating—and I know how hard it is to build one when you weren’t handed a fully established operation.
Land is expensive. Equipment is expensive. Fuel, feed, fencing, insurance, taxes and veterinary care are expensive. Just getting started can require a level of debt that follows a person for decades.
Even families who inherit farms often need jobs away from the farm to keep them going. For those of us who have had to build without inheriting the whole operation, the choices are even harder.
Ask me how I know.
Then, once you finally get into the cattle business, you still face drought, rising input costs, limited processing options, meatpacking consolidation, overregulation and labeling rules that make it difficult for shoppers to know whether they are actually buying American beef.
Farmers and ranchers are expected to carry all of that risk, keep producing food and somehow make it work.
Now, when cattle producers are finally seeing prices that might justify retaining heifers and investing in rebuilding their herds, the response is to bring in cheaper foreign beef.
That doesn’t give producers confidence. It takes confidence away.
Rebuilding a cattle herd isn’t something that happens in 90 days (and I’m sure that’s a well-known fact here in Northeastern Kentucky and beyond). A farmer can’t flip a switch and produce more cattle when the government decides it needs them. Rebuilding takes years. It takes land, healthy cows, retained heifers, feed, money, favorable weather and faith that the market will still be there when those animals are ready.
Why would producers take on that expense if they believe the market will be undercut whenever retail prices become politically uncomfortable?
We keep farming because we love this life. We believe in caring for the land, raising animals responsibly and feeding families food they can trust. We want to leave something worthwhile for the next generation.
But love for this way of life does not pay the feed bill.
If America truly wants more American beef, then it needs to make raising cattle a sustainable choice for American families. Give producers fair markets. Address consolidation in the meatpacking industry. Require clear country-of-origin labeling. Reduce unnecessary barriers. Help young farmers gain access to land and capital. Give producers enough confidence to invest in the future.
Do that, and the American cattle herd can grow.
Ignore those problems, and we’ll keep watching family farms disappear, corporate ownership expand, fertile ground turn into developments and data centers, and more of our food come from countries most Americans will never see.
You cannot rebuild the American cattle herd while making it harder for American cattle producers to survive.
If we want American beef on American tables, we had better make sure there are still American farmers and ranchers left to raise it.
Contact the writer at miranda@cartercountytimes.com
