08/22/2026
Oregon Farm Bureau is deeply disappointed by the Administration’s decision to bring additional subsidized, tariff-free foreign beef into the United States. At a time when Oregon ranchers are being asked to rebuild a historically tight cattle supply, undercutting them for short-term relief at the grocery store sends exactly the wrong signal.
Ranchers are already facing high feed, fuel, labor and replacement costs, along with drought, wildfire and significant regulatory pressures. Many producers are selling cattle today to recover from years when margins were thin or nonexistent. Rebuilding the herd requires confidence that investing in additional cows will pay off. Knee-jerk government intervention only adds uncertainty and makes that investment less attractive.
We understand that families are frustrated by high grocery prices, but cheap imports are a short-term fix with a deferred cost. The long-term path to affordable beef is growing a healthy domestic cattle industry and pursuing policies that lower the cost of producing food here at home. Flooding the market with discounted foreign beef is difficult to reconcile with an “America First” agenda and risks leaving both Oregon ranchers and American consumers worse off in the years ahead.
Oregon’s cattle and calf industry is a cornerstone of the state’s agricultural economy, consistently ranking among Oregon’s top agricultural commodities and generating more than $1 billion in production value. But its importance goes well beyond economics. Few industries in America better represent the independence, resilience and stewardship that define the American West. Oregon ranching families have cared for livestock, working lands and rural communities for generations. They deserve policies that strengthen their ability to keep doing that work, not policies that undercut them when they are being asked to rebuild America’s cattle supply.
