AFBF Encourages Trump Administration to Reverse Proclamation to Import Beef
Farmers and ranchers are bracing for the impact of President Trump's plan to allow
beef imports to increase by 660 million pounds over a 90-day period. In this week's commentary American Farm Bureau Federation executive vice president, Joby Young, tells us the plan is a gut punch to ranchers bottom line.
"The cattle sector has been one of the few bright spots for US agriculture and unfortunately it just became a bit dimmer because of the presidential proclamation to allow an additional 300,000 metric tons of beef to be imported. The US is already importing beef at record levels and this decision will be a nearly 60 percent increase in imports over the next 90 days," Young said.
"America's ranchers have been working to rebuild herds and undercutting a
fragile recovery by swamping markets with foreign products and attempting to manipulate prices threatens to wipe out any progress that's been made. It's not too late to reverse this decision and we've been urging the president to consider the economic harm this causes America's ranchers," Young said.
The American Farm Bureau Federation's Dr. John Newton, vice president of public policy,
also added that the US beef cow herd sits at 28.5 million head as of July 1. That is the lowest
number since USDA started counting in 1971. Drought force ranchers to liquidate cattle for years while production costs for a cow calf operation hit a record of $1,762 a head in 2025,
up nearly 30 percent since 2020.
About 70 percent of spring-borne calves get sold between September and November. That's the exact window the administration's 90 day import plan runs through.
Cash cattle prices have already fallen 14 percent, nearly $40 per hundred weight in recent months before a single imported pound has ever made it to the US supply chain.
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