An incessant focus on imports and haste to declare the beef industry’s demise has protectionists leaning on the sheep industry as a business case study. With all due respect to sheep producers, the analogy isn’t close.
The use of camera grading in America’s beef plants has improved the accuracy, precision and consistency of grading from plant to plant and from lot to lot of cattle, regardless of where they were harvested.
Claims of dramatic changes to the cattle industry in the Pacific Northwest due to large numbers of imported cattle are compelling, but a little digging into the data finds no support for such assertions.
The race towards expansion of the cow herd isn’t likely to start in 2024. That holds some important implications as the industry shuffles around for supply in the years to come.
In a sixth column on international trade, Speer notes that U.S. founders were pragmatists, not protectionists. Their overarching philosophy was bent towards free trade.
When it comes to trade – especially for the beef industry - if you’re hearing a tariff siren, it’s likely a false alarm. Tariffs are a solution in search of a problem.
Protectionist measures often set into motion retaliatory measures that can be unpredictable. When that happens the fallout can be felt by all sorts of independent businesses and their employees in rural America.
A third column grappling with some of the baffling claims regarding international trade. The focus here is specifically on the noise surrounding the imports of live cattle.
Do America’s trade policies push ranchers out of business? That’s a protectionist’s view, but there’s no evidence suggesting ranchers “displaced” by beef imports – nor being unduly damaged in the marketplace.
There’s a lot of rhetoric surrounding beef trade that we shouldn’t accept at face value. A closer look at the data shows America’s ranchers are the direct beneficiaries of international trade.
