The Slow Decline of American Beef

Do you know where your beef comes from?

I've written about this before, but it's a hot topic especially now. About a month ago, the USDA has finally started making progress toward modified COOL (Country of Origin Labeling) requirements. 

COOL Requirements

COOL was first signed into law in 2002 as part of the Farm Bill, requiring retailers to provide country of origin labeling for fresh beef, pork, and lamb (processed meats were exempted). Later, it was expanded to include other foods, like fresh fruits, nuts, and vegetables. 

Although many of these food items - like fruits and vegetables - continue to be labeled with the country of origin, in 2015, Congress repealed the COOL law for beef and pork due to World Trade Organization rulings that prohibited labeling certain food items. 

The reason? A big challenge to this came from the Canadian government, which argued that COOL regulations actually harmed the global meat industry by increasing costs, lower efficiency in processing, and affecting US-Canadian trade (Mexico made similar arguments, likely due more to the last point of trade than any of the others).

It harmed the global meat industry, sure. But it was absolutely necessary for American meat.

Today, without that mandatory language, it's very common to see "Product of the USA" on meat that was born, raised, and grown out on foreign soil - as long as it was repackaged in the US, it can be labeled as such. 

Very few of us, as consumers, would bother reading past that fine print, assuming "Product Of" means exactly what it seems like - it was produced here. That's not the case.

You might be wondering, "So what? Why does this matter?" 

At face value, it might not seem like it matters a ton. As I've said before, many of the countries we buy beef from - Canada, Mexico, New Zealand - likely have similar regulations and the meat is just as safe. 

But the problem is that we're not supporting American farms, and we're seeing a huge (negative) trickle-down effect as a result.

Where Has US Beef Gone?

In the grass fed beef market alone, it's estimated that imports make up about 75 to 80% of what we consume. We also import a ton of "beef trim" for ground beef. 

Why would we buy this from overseas if it could be produced on our own soil? Why not support American communities? 

If you went to the grocery store right now and saw two packages of beef, one labeled "American Beef" and the other labeled "Canadian Beef," which one would you be most likely to buy? Would you pay a few cents per pound extra for the American beef? What if you knew it was beef that was raised by the farmer down the road from you? The farmer whose kids are in the same Little League as your kids? The one whose taxes go to support the same local infrastructure?

I say this not to be xenophobic, but to reflect a growing issue - and that is that American farms will not survive if we don't start taking a community-centered approach. 

There's nothing wrong with producing foreign-produced products, particularly if they're products we can't realistically cultivate here. I don't know about you, but I probably am not going to be able to successfully grow bananas in my backyard - I do need to buy those from abroad. I get it. 

But why on Earth are we buying beef, pork, and lamb from other countries when we can produce it right here, for approximately the same cost (once you've taken shipping costs out of the equation), and with a reduced environmental impact (don't forget how much it taxes the environment to ship products across the globe, folks!)?

The answer is simple: because most of us aren't actually aware of where that food is coming from. I know many of us would prefer to buy food grown here in the US - I know I would. 

The Decline of the American Beef Inventory

Again, I'm not saying Canadian beef is bad, or Mexican pork is bad, or anything of the sort. I'm just saying we need to support local - and the way our government allows retailers to label meat as American-produced when it clearly was not is a system that's clearly, deeply, tragically flawed. And it's pushing out the American farmer at a time when we need American farms more than ever.

Ranchers have fewer cattle and the cost of beef here in the US is only going to get more expensive. We are seeing this locally, with cattle prices higher than they have been in quite some time, but it's a national phenomenon as well.

I recently interviewed some Florida cattle producers, including the president of the Florida Cattlemen's Association, for an article I wrote for Central Florida Ag News. I learned that the cost for bred replacement females is 54% higher in 2024 than they were in 2022. Our national cattle inventory is the lowest it's been in more than 70 years.

Some of this is due to other factors, like high fertilizer prices, skyhigh land prices, and extensive drought. 

But less cattle means less supply - which is going to translate into higher prices for the consumer.

The new COOL changes are set to go into effect in 2026, but it may be too little, too late for the American cattle industry. The real call to action here is this: get to know where your food is coming from. If you care about the local economy and you care about American food independence, it's worth it to educate yourself (and perhaps consider paying a few more cents per pound) for American beef that is truly….well, American.