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As the Trump administration desperately tries to cut costs for Americans ahead of November's midterm elections, one critical demographic to U.S. food supplies is becoming increasingly fed up.
President Donald Trump in August announced that the U.S. would import 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef trim, well over half a billion pounds, from nations around the world, leaving some cattle ranchers in red states typically aligned with the president's agenda uneasy heading into a high-stakes election for Republicans.
"These markets have been very volatile the last month," Greg Gunthorp, a farm-to-table cattle farmer in northeast Indiana, told Fox News Digital. "The ranchers have lost a lot of equity. The markets are down substantially."
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Gunthorp said the current uncertainty makes it difficult to decide whether to retain heifers for breeding or sell them as feeder cattle. Complicating matters is the fact that cattle herds in the U.S. have already thinned to their lowest level in 75 years, which could spell disaster for ranchers and consumers. Part of that shortage stems from a prolonged drought that has decimated some of the midwest herd populations.
Additionally, spoking diesel costs stemming from the war in Iran means cattle ranchers are already operating on thinner margins and being forced to raise their prices.
Jaclyn Wilson, a cattle rancher in western Nebraska, told Fox News Digital that how much of the 300,000 metric tons is actually imported, another unanswered question, is critical to assessing the impact that Trump administration's move will have on the industry.
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"The only thing that really concerns me and continues to concern me, is that the market volatility is definitely there," she said.
"It seems like any time that we have significant prices in the beef industry and our administration says something, we do see that market fluctuate and that can be devastating for producers that are selling calves right now or even yearling," Wilson continued.
Wilson said she sold some yearling steers just after the announcement was made, and got $175 less per head than she would have normally.
"And that's pretty significant for a producer," she said.
Another common theme shared by ranchers who spoke with Fox News Digital is that they want the government to incentivize producing cattle, or at least stay out of the market and let cattle ranchers do it on their own.
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"You can relieve a price temporarily today, but they're not going to put cattle back in Mississippi pastures," said Mississippi cattle rancher Mary Jo Perry. "And that's the problem, is that we have a cattle shortage. So, something needs to be done to encourage farmers and incentivize them, enable them to retain heifers."
Perry, who runs a grass fed, farm-to-table beef operation, said the White House's policy proposal hasn't affected her business. She sells beef to health-conscious customers who want to know that their food is high quality, and that their beef was raised without feeding on corn or soy.
Wilson would just as much prefer the government to stay out the business altogether.
"I think that's what's so discouraging for me as a cattle producer is I'm I'm trying to do what my family has done for generations, and somebody else is dictating it right now, she said. "I'm not given those opportunities to make that choice, and that's what's really disappointing."
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"We talk about herd rebuilding, and that's something this administration is also talked about — which I agree, we do need to rebuild our cowherd — but keep the government out of it," she said. "Let it naturally happen. Mother nature, of course, is the biggest component of that."
Fox News Digital spoke with Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins at the GOP Midterm Convention in Dallas last week about the cattle ranching conundrum.
The Secretary said she's spoken with "hundreds and hundreds" of cattle ranchers to explain Trump's thinking in importing beef.
"So, hearing from those ranchers directly was really important," Rollins said. "But what we did — and we've already done a whole lot of pro-rancher stuff a year ago — battling for private property rights, taking out the weaponization that the left had put in against our ranchers [and] working to take their land away ... so all of that was already in motion."
"But what that decision, as frustrated as our ranchers were, what that decision allowed was really an opportunity for us at USDA and also work across the cabinet — which, this cabinet is very unusual in that way — to put together the most pro-rancher agenda in American history," she continued.
On Sept. 4, 2026, Trump signed two executive orders related to cattle ranchers and beef production. One, "Supporting America's Ranchers," is aimed at strengthening the cattle industry by ordering federal agencies to cut red tape and regulations, expand cattle grazing and look into predator management. The latter will determine whether certain species of wolves that prey on cattle have grown enough to be delisted from endangered species lists.
On the same day, he signed another order focused on meat processing and market competition. It demands stricter enforcement of the Packers and Stockyards Act against unfair, deceptive or monopolistic practices in the livestock industry, along with expanding opportunities to sell meat across state lines through cooperative meat safety inspections.
"President Trump has repeatedly affirmed his support for America’s great farmers and ranchers," White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales told Fox News Digital. "While the Administration is addressing a short-term supply crunch in the beef market, we are simultaneously working closely with ranchers to grow America’s cattle-herd size, which is currently at a multi-decade low."
Gunthorp said the problem should have been tackled decades ago by previous administrations, but that doesn't mean trying to fix it today won't harm consumers or ranchers.
"Once you fix the problem that should have been attacked 30 years ago, its gonna cause somebody pain," he said. "It's gonna cause the consumer pain [or] the rancher pain. Maybe both."
Fox News Digital reached out to the USDA for further comment, but did not hear back at time of publication.
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