{"id":65747,"date":"2026-02-08T11:55:42","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T16:55:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/08\/the-single-crushing-problem-american-cattle-ranchers-wish-trump-would-fix-instead\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T11:55:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T16:55:42","slug":"the-single-crushing-problem-american-cattle-ranchers-wish-trump-would-fix-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/08\/the-single-crushing-problem-american-cattle-ranchers-wish-trump-would-fix-instead\/","title":{"rendered":"The single crushing problem American cattle ranchers wish Trump would fix instead"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump’s<\/u><\/a> beef import plan aims to cut prices, but cattle ranchers say it misses what\u2019s crushing them most \u2014 the power of meat packers.<\/p>\n

“Meat packers have created a system where they win no matter what \u2014 at the cost of everyone else,” said Will Harris, a fourth-generation cattleman and owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia.<\/p>\n

Harris, who plans to hand off the operation to his children, said his farm handles every step of production, from raising cattle to processing and selling beef, giving him a clear view of how prices are set.<\/p>\n

AMERICA\u2019S SMALLEST CATTLE HERD IN 70 YEARS MEANS REBUILDING WILL TAKE YEARS AND BEEF PRICES COULD STAY HIGH<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

At the center of that pricing power sit the “Big Four” \u2014 Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef \u2014 anchoring the U.S. beef supply chain from pasture to plate.<\/p>\n

Together, the packing titans process about 85% of the grain-fattened cattle that become steaks, roasts and other supermarket cuts.<\/p>\n

“The U.S. beef market is so highly concentrated that a small number of dominant packers control processing, distribution and pricing. This allows them to pay ranchers less for cattle while charging consumers<\/a> more at the store. When cheap imported beef enters the system, it allows packers to increase their margins,” Harris told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a concern echoed deep into cattle country.<\/p>\n

Texas<\/a> cattle rancher Cole Bolton said he sees the same problem in the Lone Star State.<\/p>\n

IN TEXAS CATTLE COUNTRY, ONE RANCHER WELCOMES TRUMP\u2019S FOCUS ON DECADES OF THIN MARGINS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

“What the real issue is, is the price differential between the big four packers and what they’re paying us for the product,” said Bolton, the owner of K&C Cattle Company.<\/p>\n

Those margins, Bolton said, have been squeezed for decades. “Ranchers have dealt with such thin margins of profitability for the last 20 years.”<\/p>\n

While ranchers like Bolton and Harris say Trump\u2019s temporary expansion of U.S. beef imports<\/a> from Argentina may help ease prices in the short term, both warn it is no substitute for rebuilding domestic production.<\/p>\n

“Imports should be a bridge, not a long-term replacement,” Harris said. “We must rebuild the American cattle herd, protect American farmers and ensure transparency, so consumers understand where their beef comes from. Long-term affordability depends on a healthy, resilient domestic cattle industry \u2014 not permanent dependence on foreign beef.”<\/p>\n

Years of drought, high feed costs<\/u><\/a> and an aging ranching population have thinned herds, leaving the U.S. cattle supply at its lowest level in more than 70 years.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s going to take a while to fix this crisis that we’re in with the cattle shortage. My message to consumers is simple: Folks, be patient. We’ve got to build back our herds,” Bolton told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

He noted that the cattle industry, over the last five years, has weathered one setback after another, from market turmoil to extreme weather conditions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump’s beef import plan aims to cut prices, but cattle ranchers say it misses what\u2019s crushing them most \u2014 the power of meat packers. “Meat packers have created a system where they win no matter what \u2014 at the cost of everyone else,” said Will Harris, a fourth-generation cattleman and owner of White … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65747\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}