Kansas

Kansas City area cattle ranchers see beef marketing opportunity in trade war

Published

11 months ago

April 18, 2025

Kansas City area cattle ranchers see beef marketing opportunity in trade war

BUTLER, Mo. — Kansas City area livestock producers are closely watching the economy as the United States navigates an international trade war.

“We’ve got to keep the economy strong to keep our beef prices going good,” explained Tim Clifton, a field representative and cattle rancher with MoKan Livestock Market.

Brian Luton/KSHB

Tim Clifton

The announcement of retaliatory tariffs on international trade partners rocked the stock market during the early stages of implementation. Missouri and Kansas livestock growers rely on a strong stock market to keep their prices high. When the market took a plunge a few weeks ago, so did cattle prices.

“When the stock market recovered, the cattle markets are back pretty much 100% to what they were three weeks ago,” said Clifton.

While a big focus is the economy, Clifton tells KSHB 41, there is an opportunity knocking at their door.

“We’re importing all kinds of Australian beef, and Australia doesn’t take any of our beef,” he explained. “We were taking their beef in, and they’re not taking any of ours. So that tariff is good for us.”

In the last five years, the U.S. cattle population declined due to drought.

American cattlemen were forced to cull herds to keep up with the cost of production.

The U.S. livestock head count has decreased by 1% in the last year since Jan. 1, 2025, to a total of 86.7 million.

The lowest head count since 1951, according to a report from AGDAILY.

American beef exports have only increased in billions of pounds since 2020.

Clifton tells KSHB 41 that implementing tariffs on trade competitors like Brazil could make his business more competitive.

“We get all this Brazilian beef coming in, and little goes back to Brazil of our beef,” he explained.

In the United States, four companies control 85% of America’s meat-packing industry: Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef.

Tim Clifton and KSHB 41 News Reporter Ryan Gamboa

JBS and National Beef are Brazilian-based companies.

“We import all this lean beef that we don’t know how it’s handled, what kind of regulations, what kind of antibiotics regulations they’re given. We import all this beef, the big four packers import it here,” Clifton expressed. “They cut it, they can mix it with our beef, do whatever they want, and the consumer doesn’t know. That’s where it could be beneficial for us, stopping some of that beef coming in that we don’t really need.”

Canada leads in exports of beef to the United States at 29% of U.S. product. Mexico and Brazil aren’t far behind.

Last year, Reuters reported on a positive case of Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or more commonly referred to as “Mad Cow Disease”.

“We need to stop importing so much of this beef. We could process ourselves,” Clifton said.

Clifton says that engaging in stricter trade practices should create greater food independence in the United States.

“We’re relying on people that we don’t really need to be relying on,” he added. “We need to be relying on ourselves first.”

As long as the economy remains strong, Clifton sees positives for the American cattlemen and, more importantly, consumers.

“We’re really at an opportunity here to try to lower some of our input costs… If we can lower some of our input costs and keep our market strong, we’re set up for a good spot here,” Clifton said. “It would be a benefit to try and get more U.S. beef to a U.S. consumer. If this could all work out in our favor.”

—

KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.

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Related Topics:Agriculture Big 4 Packers Brazil Cargill cattle cattle ranchers consumer consumer news Farm Bureau Featured food

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Kansas

RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Saturday after Wednesday sub-state wins

Published

27 minutes ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Saturday after Wednesday sub-state wins

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Wednesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.

Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.

WIBW Scoreboard

BOYS

6A Boys West Sub-State: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Topeka High 57, Washburn Rural 50 (will play Maize Saturday)
Junction City 70, Dodge City 56 (will play Derby Saturday)
Manhattan 58, Wichita-Northwest 56 (will play Wichita-East Saturday)

4A Boys East Sub-State: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Rock Creek 62, Louisberg 57 (will play Bishop Miege Saturday)
Atchison 74, Wamego 43
Hayden 72, Independence 56 (will play Atchison Saturday)
Eudora 76, Santa Fe Trail 68

GIRLS

5A West Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Hays 80, Topeka West 18
Eisenhower 55, Seaman 41
Kapaun Mt. Carmel 71, Emporia 41

5A East Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Shawnee Heights 89, Sumner 15 (will play Pittsburg Saturday)
Basehor-Linwood 74, Highland Park 28 (will play Piper Saturday)

3A Pomona-West Franklin Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Osage City 75, Columbus 31 (will play Frontenac Saturday)

3A Sabetha Girls: Wednesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Silver Lake 48, Nemaha Central 26 (will play Riley County Saturday)
Riley County 51, Jeff West 40 (will play Silver Lake)

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Kansas

RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Friday after Tuesday sub-state wins

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

RESULTS: NE Kansas high schools to play Friday after Tuesday sub-state wins

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – Below is a look at the results from Tuesday night’s high school basketball sub-state semifinals in Northeast Kansas.

Editor’s Note: This story will be updated with what schools are hosting when that information becomes readily available.

WIBW Scoreboard

BOYS

5A East Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

KC Washington 68, Highland Park 38
Shawnee Heights 49, De Soto 37 (will play Leavenworth Friday)

5A West Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Topeka West 55, Hutchinson 32 (will play Bishop Carroll Friday)
Emporia 61, Great Bend 41 (will play Maize South Friday)
Seaman 73, Valley Center 51 (will play Hays Friday)

3A West Franklin Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Burlington 60, Osage City 35 (will play Baxter Springs Friday)

3A Sabetha Boys: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Hiawatha 73, Oskaloosa 48 (will play Heritage Christian Friday)
Silver Lake 58, Sabetha 39 (will play Perry-Lecompton Friday 7:30 p.m.)

GIRLS

6A West Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Washburn Rural 60, Wichita South 32 (will play Derby)
Topeka High 69, Maize 45 (will play Liberal)
Manhattan 67, Free State 21 (will play Wichita East)

4A East Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Rock Creek 71, Parsons 23 (will play Tonganoxie)
Wamego 54, Labette County 33 (will play Bishop Miege)
Hayden 2, Athison 0 (will play Baldwin)

2A Eskridge/Mission Valley Girls: Tuesday’s sub-state semifinal results

Rossville 71, KC Christian 49 (will play Maur Hill-Mount Academy)
Lyndon 61, Jeff. Co. North 31 (will play Valley Heights)
Valley Heights 65, Doniphan West 41 (will play Lyndon)

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Kansas

Doe v. State of Kansas | American Civil Liberties Union

Published

2 days ago

March 3, 2026

Press Room

Doe v. State of Kansas | American Civil Liberties Union

In early 2026, the Kansas state legislature passed SB 244, a law which prohibits transgender people from using public restrooms on government property that align with their gender identity and establishes a private right of action that allows anyone who suspects someone is transgender and in violation of the law to sue that person for “damages” totaling $1,000.

The law also invalidates state-issued driver’s licenses with updated gender markers that reflect the carrier’s gender identity. In February 2026, transgender people across the state received letters from the state Department of Revenue’s Division of Vehicles informing them that their driver’s licenses “will no longer be valid,” effective immediately. SB 244 also prohibits transgender Kansans – or those born in Kansas – from updating the gender marker on state-issued birth certificates and driver’s licenses in the future.

The same day SB 244 went into effect, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Kansas, and Ballard Spahr LLP filed a lawsuit challenging SB 244 in the District Court of Douglas County on behalf of two transgender men who had their driver’s licenses invalidated under the law. The lawsuit charges that SB 244 violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections for personal autonomy, privacy, equality under the law, due process, and freedom of speech.

“The invalidation of state-issued IDs threatens to out transgender people against their will every time they apply for a job, rent an apartment, or interact with police,” said Harper Seldin, Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Rights Project. “Taken as a whole, SB 244 is a transparent attempt to deny transgender people autonomy over their own identities and push them out of public life altogether.”

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