Why High Beef Prices Are Here to Stay

The Wall Street Journal ^ | Nov. 9, 2026 9:00 pm ET | Patrick Thomas

[E. Pluribus Unum]

The shrinking U.S. cattle herd is putting meatpackers out of business, fracturing the supply chain; ‘so difficult to get that capacity back’

EAGLE MOUNTAIN, Utah—Tyson Foods TSN 0.84%increase; green up pointing triangle maintenance worker Austin Campbell was checking his email in August for updates on a promotion when instead he saw a message from the company’s chief executive. 

“Our beef business is operating in a challenging environment due to the historic cattle shortage,” Donnie King, Tyson’s CEO at the time, wrote in an internal email announcing the closure of the Utah facility where Campbell worked. “These supply constraints are likely to persist.”

The $300 million Utah plant was only five years old. It doesn’t slaughter cattle but was filled with state-of-the-art automation to help employees cut and package beef cuts into steaks, roasts and ground beef for grocery stores.

The closure was part of sweeping changes to Tyson’s business, including scrapping another slaughter facility in Illinois and plans to sell a plant in Washington. It had already shut down a massive slaughterhouse in Nebraska earlier in the year. Rival JBS also closed a slaughter plant in Pennsylvania. Cargill shut a ground beef packaging facility in Wisconsin.

America’s $100 billion beef industry is undergoing a painful downsizing, and it’s poised to make high meat prices a long-term reality.

After years of economic turmoil and droughts, the U.S. cattle herd has shrunk to its smallest level in 75 years. The supply shock is driving up steak and hamburger prices at grocery stores and restaurants to record highs—conditions that could last well into the next decade, given how long it takes to replenish a herd.

“The common public probably thinks you can turn it around in four months,” said Brad Peek, whose family has run one of the largest livestock auctions west of...

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TOPICS: Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: beef; food

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Article Summary

[sopo]

Because Bill Gates wants us to eat crickets and lab-grown meat?

[ProgressingAmerica]

Blame the voters, nobody wants to get away from BillGatesWare.

Microsoft deserves GoWokeGoBroke, but everybody refuses to dish it out.

[crusty old prospector]

A lot of Mexicans will be out of work.

[right way right]

no more steaks,
jus tacos.

[Tell It Right]

A lot of Mexicans will be out of work.

Cow-worshipping H1B-ers will probably tell the Mexicans to learn to code.

[virgil]

So democrats will do nothing about affordability? Shocked, just shocked, I tell you. /s

[BradyLS]

“You vill eat ze bugz und you vill LIKE it!” —Klaus Schwab

[rlmorel]

Didn't Trump just create an Executive Order address the availability and cost of meat?

LINK: Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Promotes Fair Competition in Livestock Markets and Expands Market Access for American Meat Producers

Formal legislation would have been much better. But the no-loads in Congress aren't interested in anything else other than getting re-elected and going to the right cocktail parties. And...

Orange Man Bad.

[lurk]

Talk to the ranchers. Cows are big animals who require lots of food to get them to market size. Lots of food requires lots of growing acres. Lots of acres takes lots of big machines.

As for breeding tempo, a cow can only drop one calf per year.

And, a papered breeding bull is worth more than a pickup truck.

[ProgressingAmerica]

It’s kind of nothing but a show piece.

We don’t live in a monarchy. So Trump’s motions over a free or kinda free market aren’t going to be a definitive hammer.

[SaveFerris]

You beat me to it. Good work.

YOU VILL EAT ZEE BUGS
in ZEE 15-MINUTE CITIES

(Eat Zee Delicious Bugs

🐛🐜🐝🐞🦗)



United Nations Agenda 2030 is
your Glorious Future, Global Citizen!
How's about a Nice Microchip Digital ID? 🆔

NOW, will that be RIGHT HAND or FOREHEAD?



ALL ACCORDING TO PLAN

UNITED NATIONS
AGENDA 2030

[SaveFerris]

1) Control the Food Supply
2) Control Access to Your Money - Digital Currency
3) Eliminate Cash
4) Control YOU - Digitally

Can't happen? See 'China'

[gibsonguy]

WSJ already starting with the stories intended to take the rats off the hook when they don’t do a damn thing to fulfill their campaign promises.

[RetiredArmy]

Yeah. But since Trump lost the midterms, funny how oil has dropped nearly $6 a barrel. Prices have dropped from a war high of $ 3.99 down to $ 3.15 (today) around here. Go figure. Did the big oil people want Trump to lose? Was he putting pressure on them to drop prices, and it backfired? Just wondering.

[WhiteHatBobby0701]

The difference between understanding the markets and not. The “Netflix Generation” has proven they are in alignment with not wanting to understand the markets. Instead of Scott Shellady, they would care for womanface minstrel show “ladies”.

That’s how you make it about “affordability” without knowledge of how markets work.

And don’t forget we’ve taken more of our grain to create fuel for cars.

[kaktuskid]

What do you think most tacos are made from...cat?

[escapefromboston]

Get some boner pills into the bulls and let them breed nonstop

[SaveFerris]

(So democrats will do nothing about affordability?)

Of course not. BUT Democrats WILL:

1) K*ll more Unborn Babies and
2) Promote LGBTQ+ / "Transgender"

[rlmorel]

I disagree. While I am not familiar with the livestock or meat packing trades, there are these parts of Trump's EO that stuck out at me:

• The Order directs the Secretary of Agriculture to create a “one stop shop” resource and coordinator position within the Department of Agriculture to expand federal licensing and connect producers to inspection options, provide additional resources and training for small and very small meat processors, expand interstate market access for eligible meat products, and streamline processes to increase State participation in the State Meat and Poultry Inspection Program, the Cooperative Interstate Shipment Program, and the Talmadge-Aiken Cooperative Inspection Program.
  
  
• The Order directs the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a “Strengthening Processing for U.S. Ranchers” loan program to help small and regional processors continue their operations, expand their footprint, and increase diversity of animal proteins being processed.
  
  
• Small and very small processors deserve unique focus, which is recognized by the work of the USDA Small Processors Action Plan, funding to reduce the costs of inspection, and the SPUR program.
  
  
• Strong slaughter and processing food‑safety standards preserve America’s reputation for world‑leading food quality. The Trump Administration has advanced this effort by establishing new federal–state cooperative agreements, such as in Georgia, and increasing state reimbursements—strengthening food safety while expanding market opportunities for ranchers, including sales across states lines.

I know from talking to people associated with this on small farms that one of the hurdles is allowing local slaughter of livestock rather than shipping it to a meat packing location. Some localities are more lenient than others in allowing it to take place at all, and others place restrictions on what can be shipped over a state line if it hasn't been slaughtered at a USDA approved facility.