For Immediate Release
Contact: Jamie Blair
Email: jamie@morural.org
Phone: 573-449-1336
Columbia, MO (Oct. 28, 2025) – Recent reports signal the Trump Administration is attempting to address beef prices by potentially dumping tons of Argentinian beef into US markets.
“We agree that consumer prices are an issue across the board that require action,” says Jamie Blair with Missouri Rural Crisis Center, “but we disagree that flooding the market with foreign-imported meat solves the problem or addresses the symptoms of our beef market issues. If the Administration really wants to support independent family farmers and protect consumers, they need to enforce anti-trust laws and work with Congress to reinstate mandatory Country of Origin Labeling.”
“We’ve had some droughts and hard years where people had to sell, so the national herd is down. That’s what is driving prices up. We need to focus on rebuilding the US herd, not importing more meat and manipulating the market.” says Jeff Jones, Callaway County fifth generation cattle producer. “My concern is that this won’t impact what Americans are paying for beef, but it will be a devastating blow to Missouri -and American- cattle producers who are already working in a fixed system. All we’re asking for is a level playing field.”
For decades, failed trade policies have harmed our producers and consumers by allowing cheap imported meat to be sold as product of America. This not only intentionally misleads consumers, it has driven hundreds of thousands of independent family farmers out of business and off of the land.
According to Darvin Bentlage, 4th generation cattle producer from southwest Missouri, “Parity pricing isn’t nostalgia- its necessity. It’s the principle that farmers should receive a fair price that covers their cost of production and sustains their livelihood. But we know that importing even more beef than we already do will only accelerate and compound the issues we’re seeing now on our farms and in the grocery aisles. Prices have already been impacted pretty heavily for producers in just the last couple of days, but you sure aren’t going to see that in prices the grocery store.”
Our elected representatives must demonstrate the political will to hold the multinational corporate monopolies accountable and create competitive markets again.
We must invest in and prioritize domestic markets and American farmers if we want to address food and national security. We need to give our farmers and ranchers the opportunities necessary to rebuild our domestic livestock production by investing in them, not Argentina. We need thoughtful policy and investment in US producers, not slapdash bandaids and market manipulation.