By Anna Pope
The Trump Administration is taking another stab at importing beef, and local farm groups say the move threatens to dampen a bright spot in the agriculture economy.
President Donald Trump wrote in a social media post that he’d made a deal to import upward 300,000 tons of ground beef with no out-of-quota-tariff for the next 90 days. The idea is to bring down beef prices for consumers.
“We have a commitment that this beef will be sold at 25 percent below current market prices,” the president wrote.
High prices for beef at the grocery store comes down to supply and demand.
The national cattle herd is the smallest it's been since the 1950s because of hard droughts. Despite a tight beef supply, consumer demand is strong leading to high beef and cattle prices.
David Anderson, Texas A&M Agrilife Extension livestock and food product marking specialist, said people are looking for a quick fix, but there isn’t one.
“It's really difficult to come up with a policy option that makes a meaningful change here when our real culprit in large part is out of our control, and that's the weather,” Anderson said. “That’s this drought.”
Oklahoma farm groups – Oklahoma Farm Bureau, American Farmers and Ranchers/ Oklahoma Farmers’ Union and the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association – criticized Trump’s move. They say it’s a short-sighted step done at the wrong time for producers.
Recently, cattle prices have bolstered Oklahoma agriculture's economy during a time of uncertainty. Agriculture organizations say importing more beef discourages ranchers from rebuilding the herd and injects unpredictability into an already volatile market.
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