‘On-Shoring’ the Beef Industry

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins weighed in on the controversy over beef prices during an appearance on CNBC. President Trump said the U.S. would import Argentine beef to lower consumer beef prices. Rollins didn’t address that possibility, but spoke about the loss of 150,000 ranchers since 2017. Rollins cited the consolidation seen in beef processing. “We have offshored a lot of that with companies in Brazil and internationally; China owns some companies,” said Rollins. “There’s a real important realignment that has to happen for us to begin to on-shore, we talk about on-shoring in manufacturing, but we need to on-shore for our beef producers (and) our ranchers.” Note: Some packers are foreign-owned, but China does not own any beef plants in the United States. Rollins said the President is committed to bringing grocery prices down, “but also to have a vital industry for these ranchers to be able to survive in.”