By Blake Jackson
The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau has criticized the administration proposal to import an additional 300,000 metric tons of beef, arguing that the move could hurt U.S. cattle producers already facing market challenges.
"Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is extremely disappointed to learn that President Trump plans to continue to flood the American market with hundreds of millions of pounds of imported beef. The United States is already importing beef at a record-high level, and this action would increase imports an additional 60 percent over the next three months."
Farm Bureau President Tommy Nagle said American ranchers have been rebuilding cattle herds following drought-related reductions, while producer prices have declined despite high retail beef prices.
"American farmers and ranchers have been working hard to rebuild American beef herds that had to be sold off due to drought. Despite high prices in the grocery stores, prices paid to farmers have fallen significantly over the last two months and beef packing plants are shutting down across the country. Continuing to increase the amount of foreign-raised beef to fix prices at the grocery store will wipe out progress that American farmers have made and make us more reliant on foreign countries, weakening our national food security in the long-term."
"We appreciate President Trump’s goal of reducing grocery costs, but short-term measures will have long-term negative effects for consumers and for our family beef farms that are making decisions on whether to retain or expand their herds. We urge the president to strongly reconsider his plan.”
Photo Credit: gettyimages-sstajic
Categories: Pennsylvania, Government & Policy, Livestock, Beef Cattle