Cattle imports from Mexico resumed.

They've been shut down for fifteen months.

Mexico normally imports 1,000,000 head of cattle into the US every year.

Trump Moves To Allow Ranchers And Farmers To Process Their Own Food

Trump tries to backstep after a major screw up.

Trump Moves To Allow Ranchers And Farmers To Process Their Own Food

While this will aid beef producers, it doesn't address the existential problem of the packing industry monopoly.  Breaking that, and particularly breaking that on Distributist principals, would have a massive impact.  That won't be happening, however.  

Instead, this basically would allow producers to sell their own beef across state lines.  While some people will buy beef in that fashion, most people won't, and that doesn't do much at all for the cost of beef sold at restaurants and the like.

As noted, applying the Sherman Anti Trust Act to the meat packing industry would have a real impact.  A bigger one would be limiting corporate ownership to a single packing facility.

All of this will have no immediate impact on meat prices. The US cattle inventories, i.e.., the herd size, have not been this low since 1941.  The reasons for that are varied, by herd reduction due to drought caused by climate change is a major part of it.  In some ways, this is just a minor way of trying to repair the damage done by Trump allowing the importation of foreign beef, which has the added theater element of being introduced, supposedly, by Glenn Beck in an interview, something that just screams out the entire thing being something that is pitched towards farmer and rancher ignorance.

Small herd size is a problem, but it will take years to address.  By that time, given the very small herd size, we may very well be seeing a meat production climate that hasn't existed since the introduction of refrigerated rail cars in 1878.  The massive increase in the Western herd during the Civil War and the invention of the refrigerated rail car shifted the American diet from pork to beef.  Various factors have been making inroads on beef for years, and the price at the counter, which this will certainly not immediately address, is shifting it once again, and has been for many  years.

Whether this will serve as a salve on farmers and ranchers so they can justify voting for a party that has screwed them for years is yet to be seen.

Related thread:

The GOP's useful idiots in agriculture.

Labels: 1920, 1929, 2020s, 2026, Agriculture, Bureau of Land Management, Chuck Gray, Donald Trump, Great Depression, Ignorance, Kevin Christensen, Predictions, Republican Party, Stupidity

Lex Anteinternet: Subsidiarity Economics 2026. Agriculturalist and leopards won't eat my face. Cattle imports.

Lex Anteinternet: Subsidiarity Economics 2026. The Times more or les...: We weren't really ready to start a new one of these, but Chuck Gray has been in such rare form recently as it starts to look like he...

August 21, 2026

Why the US economy is ringing alarm bells

Bessent was sent out yesterday to try to calm fears, but ended up being ridiculed.  The US is buying back bonds which did help stabilize the bond market, at least for now.

And this:

First of all, beef prices have nothing to do with Joe Biden.  Secondly, the "thank you for our attention" line is stupid.

The real stupidity here is that American agriculturalist support the GOP, which routinely hurts them.  Ranchers and Farmers are solidly members of the Leopards Won't Eat My Face Party.

Wyoming Ranchers Selling Off Cattle As Drought Tightens Grip Across State

 

Wyoming Ranchers Selling Off Cattle As Drought Tightens Grip Across State

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: Foster Branding

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: Foster Branding: Awhile back, Paul and Laura Foster invited me to their branding in the Sheridan County. Fun to look forward to and even funner to partake in...

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: Brandings Begin

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: Brandings Begin: With only 11 cows to calve, we have to squeeze all the fun out of them we can. Three pairs are strong and ready for green grass. So we gathe...

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: East Line

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: East Line: Spring is not a time to be sitting around. If the sun is shining, you better be out ranching. The first project on this year's dock is r...

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: First Calf

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: First Calf: It was bound to happen. John and I ran out Tuesday night to check on the herd, and there she was, a new calf.  Just as we expected, 71 calve...

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: Hauling Hay

Wyoming Catholic Cowboys - raw and real: Hauling Hay: Let's just say there was a miscommunication between Jack and I, and he gave away all the hay I planned to use for calving! It was his an...

13-Year-Old South Dakota Rancher Sets Record With $320,000 Steer Named Boots

 

13-Year-Old South Dakota Rancher Sets Record With $320,000 Steer Named Boots

Out of time and place.

 

Blog Mirror: Record Beef Prices Has Aging Ranchers Selling Off Herds And Cashing Out

 

Record Beef Prices Has Aging Ranchers Selling Off Herds And Cashing Out

Blog Mirror: Red meat trade at a standstill after China's retaliatory tariffs

Red meat trade at a standstill after China's retaliatory tariffs

Borror estimates more than $150 per fed steer or heifer is at risk and the U.S. pork industry stands to lose about $8 to $10 per head in export value.

Lex Anteinternet: Mid Week at Work: Driving pigs, September 15, 1916

Lex Anteinternet: Mid Week at Work: Driving pigs, September 15, 1916: 

Mid Week at Work: Driving pigs, September 15, 1916

LOC Title:  "Driving boy" taking pigs to market. Says he is 14 years old and has been working with pigs for 9 years. Goes to school in Paris, Ky. Location: Winchester [vicinity], Kentucky. Published September 15, 1916

2023. The Second Branding

2023. The Second Branding

2023. The First Branding

2023. The First Branding