Are American Beef Prices Really High? Why Or Why Not?

Wednesday, 11.12.25, Michael and I had the pleasure of interviewing two cattlemen on the program about beef prices; “JohnBoy” Stanley from central Oklahoma and Trent Loos – a multigenerational cattle rancher from Nebraska who is not only an avid activist for homegrown meat (he raises pigs and cattle), but operates several of his own podcasts, a tv show and a Substack. You can actually buy his beef directly online, here!

Let’s not forget, at the end of October, President Trump came out very stridently (I know…when is he not?) for a 40 million dollar bailout package for Argentina, which included lowering tariffs on Argentinian beef in order to import more into the US, ostensibly to help lower the high cost of American beef.

Obviously, this caused consternation among those in the American beef industry who had fallen in behind the MAGA (not to be confused with a Make ARGENTINA Great Again policy) agenda in hopes of seeing American beef on American tables.

Then, after the Argentina plan backfired among US beef producers, Trump called for the DOJ to open an investigation into the meat packing industry, claiming that foreign-owned meat packers are driving up the cost of beef.

Consequently, it felt important to have two independent beef producers on the podcast to talk about what they know about beef and beef production in the US. Unfortunately, it was not an easy topic to cover. In fact, I was shocked at how many moving parts there are in the industry, but one thing is clear – Americans are being herded into funnels managed by just a few elite groups in virtually every area of our lives, including our beef food sources.

When the U.S. beef packing industry is dominated by four major companies – JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill, and National Beef – which control approximately 85% of the U.S. beef processing market, where is the competition that would bring lower prices? In fact, the beef packing story is worse. A Brazil multinational corporation owns 82% of National Beef and JBS is also Brazilian owned/based. Only Cargill and Tyson are US-owned, but these companies are huge. Again, what about the little guys? How do little guys compete?

Well, they don’t – they can’t. The Big Four are big enough to move the beef markets by themselves, leaving the smaller, independent beef producers often completely out of the market equation – selling cattle for pennies on the dollar just to stay in the business.

You can find the full podcast on our YouTube or Rumble channels and it is well worth the time it will take to watch it.

In addition, John had an AMAZING slide presentation he’s created that has so many really informative slides that you should really go through them to have a good handle on what exactly is going on with the beef industry in America (and Oklahoma). He’s given me permission to include them here, so use them!

Bottom line, though, is this:

Americans HAVE to become more self-sufficient in the way we eat, from growing our own “victory” gardens, to sourcing LOCAL sources for beef, chicken, pork and lamb rather than relying on COSTCO, SAMS or WalMart to have it when we need it. And even when they have it, do you know where it comes from? America’s labeling laws are ridiculous and Argentinian or Brazilian beef can be labeled as though it was from the US in many cases because Country Of Origin Labeling is voluntary. What about what’s in it? What did it eat? Hay covered in Biosludge? These are important considerations if you consider your health something to protect.

We talked about how hard it is for people to be able to go directly to a beef grower and buy a side of beef, for example – HOWEVER – if a group of friends or neighbors bought a side of beef from a local rancher and then split it up among themselves, you’ve significantly increased the odds of that rancher staying in business and of you maintaining your physical health and your direct access to food! It’s a three-way win really!

So, in that vein, let me mention a few farmers I know in central Oklahoma that often have beef – The Humble Hive Homestead in Wellston, Go Farms in Medford, Bertrand Longhorn Beef & Cattle Co in Blanchard and of course, we have lamb (sheep) from time to time, you just need to reach out via email and I’ll let you know. We raise them on grasses with no hormones. You can buy a half, or a whole, whatever you’ve got room and funds for (jenni@rope2.org).

There’s a list of Oklahoma beef producers here as well, and I found that if you search “beef for sale in Oklahoma”, you find a whole lot of ranches and farms, that you can reach out to for local beef. You can always check local butchers as well. Many often carry meat in the cases in their shops for sale, or know who to put you in touch with for farm-raised beef.

So, in closing, YOU CAN DO THIS! You can gain access to home-grown, Oklahoma beef if you work at it and if you need to, you can share the cost with family, friends or neighbors. It’s important we do this. For our health, for our beef producers, but also to thwart the plans of the elitists who want us to having nothing and like it!