Nebraska Cattle Producers Sound Alarm Over Trump Pitch to Import Beef From Argentina

By Molly Ashford

With beef prices at an all-time high, President Donald Trump on Sunday suggested importing beef from Argentina to increase supply and lower prices.

Cattle producers and agriculture groups across the country and in Nebraska said the proposal would harm U.S. cattle producers, while doing little to bring down prices for consumers.

“Let’s not do anything that would artificially reduce the price of cattle for our cattle producers,” Mark McHargue, president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau, said on Tuesday. “It’s the only segment right now in agriculture that’s making money in Nebraska."

Today’s high beef prices are caused by a variety of factors, McHargue said. The U.S. cattle herd is the smallest it has been since 1951. Drought across much of the Midwest and Great Plains in recent years caused grazing acres to dry up and increased feed costs.