President Donald Trump’s move to temporarily expand beef imports is meant to bring relief at the grocery counter, but many ranchers say the real choke point is domestic market power. Farmers point to a handful of giant packers who set prices and margins, and they argue imports can only be a short-term fix. The conversation now centers on how to rebuild the U.S. herd while tackling concentration in processing. That tension between quick price relief and long-term resilience is playing out across ranch country.
Will Harris, a fourth-generation cattleman who runs White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia, says his hands-on operation gives him a clear picture of the supply chain. He sees the whole path from pasture to plate, which makes the influence of packers obvious to him. Harris is skeptical that import policy alone will restore balance for family farms and independent processors.
“Meat packers have created a system where they win no matter what — at the cost of everyone else,” said Will Harris, a fourth-generation cattleman and owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia. That frustration reflects a broader worry: ranchers feel sidelined by processors who capture most of the margin between farmgate and supermarket. The result is less money for the people raising cattle and higher prices for shoppers.
At the center of that complaint sit the Big Four: Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef. Together they process roughly 85% of grain-fattened cattle headed for retail shelves, a level of concentration that shapes how cattle are bought and sold. When a few firms control processing capacity, they can influence bids paid to ranchers across wide regions.
“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 more at the store. When cheap imported beef enters the system, it allows packers to increase their margins,” Harris said. That account nails the core tension: imports may lower retail costs briefly, but the dominant middlemen still walk away with outsized profits unless the structure changes.
Texas rancher Cole Bolton of K&C Cattle Company hears the same story when he looks at his checks and ledger. “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, pointing to the gap between production costs and what packers choose to pay. He adds a worrying note about long-term viability: “Ranchers have dealt with such thin margins of profitability for the last 20 years.”
Ranchers concede that the temporary expansion of beef imports from Argentina could ease pressure at the register for a time, but they warn it cannot replace domestic capacity. “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 — not permanent dependence on foreign beef.”
Producers also point to concrete obstacles that have shrunk the U.S. herd: years of drought, rising feed costs and an aging ranching population have all cut stock levels. Those pressures have pushed the U.S. cattle supply to its smallest size in more than 70 years, a reality that cannot be fixed overnight. That is why many ranchers view imports as temporary patchwork rather than a policy solution.
“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 said, underscoring how recovery requires time and investment. In the meantime, ranchers note the industry has weathered repeated shocks over the last five years, from market swings to extreme weather, and warn that rebuilding will demand policy that helps producers, not just short-term price signals.
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