Schweitzer: Forcing packers to play by the rules will lower beef prices

Curbing anti-competitive practices and reinstating mandatory Country of Origin Labeling will do more to lower beef prices than importing more beef from Argentina. Unfortunately, ranchers have already taken another hit in a volatile market.

It takes about the same percentage of your paycheck to buy a pound of beef today as it did 10 years ago. Sure, the price of beef is higher, but so is everything else, including the average paycheck – thanks to inflation. There is also about the same amount of beef in our supply chain as there was 10 years because we are importing more and exporting less.

American consumers are buying more beef today than they did 10 years ago. Hence, beef prices reflect demand more than supply. Argentina accounts for roughly 2.1 percent of beef imports. Quadrupling imports from them will have very little impact on total beef supply. Sadly, it has already had a significant negative impact on futures prices.

Instead of throwing Argentina more financial boons, forcing monopolistic packers to play by fair market rules and reinstating mandatory Country of Origin Labeling will decrease prices.

In 2024 we imported more beef than at any time in history, and, by September of 2025, we imported 30 percent more than in 2024. We also exported less beef in 2025 and are on track to exporting the lowest amount of beef this century, which has resulted in the largest beef trade deficit in US history. This is result of having the smallest US cow herd since 1961, caused by the repeal of Mandatory Country of Origin labeling. We have lost more than 20 percent of our family ranches since the repeal of MCOOL, causing our cattle herd and rural communities to shrink.

The Big 4 packers have been able to import more beef from countries that don’t have the same high standard of production and processing as the US cattle industry. They import this cheaper product, mix it with US beef, put a “Product of USA” label on it, and sell it at US beef prices. The Big 4 packers are cheating consumers and producers and making billions of dollars in the process.

That being said, I am not opposed to importing beef if we truthfully label it with MCOOL.

The NCBA (packer lobbyist), which has faced criticism for its opaque funding system that outweighs the total Beef Checkoff dollars it receives, would like to suggest that MCOOL causes a huge burden on the packers and requires extra paperwork for US producers. These are both packer myths. US producers don’t have to do anything different because the burden of origin is on the imported beef. Most of the beef we import is boxes of scraps from the Big 4 packers in other countries and is delivered directly to burger plants to be processed. Most of the live animals are imported from Mexico and Canada. When we had MCOOL, these animals were branded before crossing the border with a MX or CN brand clearly identifying their origin. By law, the packers are required to completely clean their plants at least every 12 hours making it easy for them to segregate their processing by origin of the beef.

If we had MCOOL, the consumer would be able to choose the origin of the beef they buy. Truth in labeling will force the packers to lower the prices for the foreign beef to get consumers to buy it, and because it costs the packers less to buy foreign beef that is raised and processed at a lower standard than US beef. I am confident given the choice, consumers will choose to buy the better US beef, but am also in favor of consumers having transparent choices in a fair market for ranchers.

The recently launched DOJ investigation into the packers’ anti-competitive practices is long overdue. Farmers Union has already been fighting back and filed a lawsuit over anti-competitive practices that was recently settled with the packers for more than $130 million. Forcing the packers to play by the rules will lower consumer beef prices, create a fair market, and encourage ranchers to rebuild our cattle herds.

Walter Schweitzer is president of Montana Farmers Union, a grassroots organization which supports family farmers and ranchers through education, legislation, and cooperation. He ranches near Geyser.