Most of us want inexpensive, quality food.
Some people just want cheap food, regardless of the quality.
I am an advocate for eating quality food, grown as locally as possible.
I realize that in today’s world many have gotten used to having fresh strawberries year-round, but in this area, strawberries are basically harvested in June and July. People want asparagus for their Thanksgiving dinner, but again, it is harvested in Washington in May to July. Raspberries are ripe from July to September, apples basically August to November, and oranges — not in Lewis County, ever. I know of one exception growing a small amount in a greenhouse.
I always encourage people to eat as naturally as possible — and as locally grown as possible. My training in nutrition and my upbringing have given me a pretty clear vision of what I think is a healthy diet. But perhaps that is a topic for another article. My intent for this article is to share a little insight into today’s meat prices.
People have been hearing a lot lately about the price of beef. Now, they are hearing that President Trump wants to import a lot of cheap beef from Argentina and that American beef producers are not happy with that idea.
Why?
You will hear a lot of arguments for and against. For one, Argentinian beef is inferior quality, so it will basically become ground beef, dropping the price for that one cut of meat, but doing next to nothing to lower the price of all other cuts — roasts, steaks, etc.
But, on the other hand, consumers can do a lot with ground beef, so it would benefit consumers — at least for the short term.
Two: It will do nothing to “cure the problem.” American beef producers are producing top quality beef and doing it more efficiently than ever. The problem is our numbers are low. Many things have contributed. Natural impacts of floods and droughts have taken their toll and forced producers to sell their breeding stock, which means fewer animals are being produced. Grazing lands have been lost through environmental activists and politicians who fail to understand the benefit of grazing and the fact that many grazable lands are just that — and not good for other food production.
Three: The other problem with an influx of “cheap beef” is that it undercuts our growers who have struggled for years. It is only recently that they have been able to start making financial progress for all their investment and hard work. The prices our American producers are paid for their cattle is controlled by four companies who process 85% of marketed meat. Those four companies essentially hold a monopoly over the beef industry in the United States. They set the (low) price they pay to ranchers and the (high) price they charge retail stores — thus, the high cost of beef in U.S. grocery stores, with the profit going to middlemen, not producers.
Those four companies are Cargill, a global commodity trader; Tyson Foods, based in Arkansas; JBS, a Brazilian company and the largest meat packer in the world; and National Beef Packing Co, which is controlled by Brazilian Marfrig Global Foods.
When we look at pork, Smithfield Foods, the largest pork processor, is owned by Shuanghui, a Chinese company. Shuanghui is required to adhere to Beijing’s five-year plan, the Communist Party’s national economic agenda. The document is clear: Shuanghui meets its obligations and follows the path laid out by the Communist Party. The Chinese government signaled its strong desire for overseas agriculture when it unveiled its five-year plan, a major focus is buying up overseas farmland. The last number I saw was the Chinese owned 384,000 acres of U.S. agricultural land — 146,000 of that is owned by Shuanghui and foreign food companies.
A solution? Support American farmers and ranchers and American processors. Buy American products. Encourage U.S. processors to start new or expand existing capacity. Encourage competition. And, while we are at it, implement Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) so that meat that is labeled “Product of the USA” actually was born, raised and processed here in the USA.
Stop allowing “The Big Four” to import carcasses and even processed meats and just repackage them and say they are a USA product. They are not.
American consumers are being lied to. We have the right to know where our food comes from and to be able to buy American-raised foods.
Light at the end of the tunnel? Hopefully.
Last week, cattlemen and senators met with President Trump, and he indicated he is going to have the oligarchy controlling U..S. meat processing looked into.
In early 2025, JBS — one of the world’s largest meatpackers — agreed to pay $83.5 million to settle a high-profile antitrust class action lawsuit. The suit, initiated in 2019 by the National Farmers Union, R-CALF USA and four ranchers, alleged that JBS conspired with Tyson, Cargill and National Beef to suppress fed cattle prices by limiting supply in the U.S. market.
Maybe, just maybe, the stranglehold “The Big Four” have on U..S. farmers, ranchers and consumers is going to be broken.
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Maureen Harkcom grew up on a Lewis County dairy and operated a beef and native hay operation and developed an equine competition facility. She can be reached by email at maureen.harkcom@gmail.com.
