The president of the Black Farmers and Ranchers Association, John Boyd Jr., told CNN that their members were already under significant strain due to President Donald Trump's trade war. Things got worse last week when the president announced he'd import beef from other countries, driving down the costs so that struggling ranchers aren't making any money. It made him wonder what Trump is getting in return for hurting his own people.
Montana Sen. Tim Sheehy (R) complained that the overall problem is a monopoly in meatpacking plants in the U.S., and it is disproportionately hurting small ranchers.
Trump's decision to bring in foreign beef has more to do with his desperation to fix grocery prices and the affordability crisis, he announced to the press over the weekend.
Boyd said that Trump's policies have put cattlemen out of business.
"We can't afford to take a 25 percent reduction in price because the president wants to do some side deal in Argentina," Boyd said. "He was on you guys talk to him about his relationship there with Argentina. He said they were losing farms, and they were struggling, and all of these things. But we're struggling right here at home too."
There are about 400 pending farm foreclosures, "and no one has helped us," he lamented.
"This is the lowest cattle count in the United States since 1951. That's a very, very long time. And we're not investing in America's farmers," he added.
"You know, we don't want this beef from Argentina. There was a recall of 30,000 metric tons in Florida and Texas, and even China doesn't want this beef from Argentina," Floyd explained.
So, he asked. "Why are we being forced to take this? We have an issue with screwworms, you know, from beef coming from the southern part of the country and Mexico and other places. This is not what America's farmers need right now. When we're struggling, we're struggling with the president's tariffs. We're struggling with the high input costs on fuel and diesel and fertilizer from the war. And Iran. So it's a ripple effect."
Trump might think it's the best solution, but to Boyd, it sounds like a solution that may help Trump and not ranchers.
"And those are many of the deals that the president does. There's always something in it for himself and the administration, he added. "None of the cattlemen like myself was notified about this deal. There hasn't been any talks with the academy like myself."
In fact, Boyd said, there hasn't been a meeting with this administration at all to chat about this issue. He particularly took issue with Agricultural Secretary Brooke Rollins, who said on Tuesday that she can't reveal where the beef is coming from. No one in the administration flagged it for the ranchers.
"The first thing the president and the secretary can do is reach out to leaders like myself and tell them what the plan is," he asked.
He closed by saying that at the same time Trump is doing this, family farms are being lost because they simply can't survive in the Trump economy. If Trump wanted to help, Boyd said, he could start there.
