The U.S. cattle herd is at its lowest number since the 1950s, estimated at 86.2 million head as of January 1, 2026. The price of beef to the consumer, now averaging $7 a pound, has gone up 16% in one year, and is still rising.
Even before the Feb. 28 start of the economic shock from the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, U.S. cattle herd numbers had been declining for years. This resulted from long-time Washington subservience to the globalist commodity cartel system. Trans-national meat packers and Wall Street/City of London finance have dictated patterns of farming and trade for decades, including that U.S. beef consumption shift into meat-imports, similar to U.S. fruit and vegetable import-dependence. Thousands of U.S. farmily farms and ranches have shut down, depopulating hundreds of counties.
At present 20% of U.S. beef consumption is imported; over 70% of lamb is imported. The U.S. is self-sufficient in pork and poultry, but production has been consolidated into an anti-family-farm “industrial model.”
What would rebuild the cattle herd? Trust-bust the monopolies dominating processing, the Big Four that control over 85% of all beef packing: National Beef (Marfrig), JBS, Cargill, Tysons. Launch drives for restoring independent ranches, feedlots, and local and regional meatpacking, using grants, loans, and other means to steady family farm income through parity-based pricing. Favor young farmers. Make this part of revving up the whole economy, so working families have the means to buy home-grown food, etc. That’s the idea of the original “American System.”
Equally important, launch construction of water, power, and transportation infrastructure. The dry spells, on top of the impossible input costs for farmers, slam farm operations, for lack of infrastructure. The Colorado River Basin, and Upper Rio Grande are in extreme crisis. The low snow pack this year in the West means a water emergency.
Ignoring this reality, the White House and Congress persist with a grab-bag of moves, and worse. In February, President Trump’s OK to import more Argentina beef took effect. It’s not big, but it’s a sop to Pres. Javier Milei, and insults U.S. ranchers. Trump said, he’s helping the consumer.
