Southwest
The single crushing problem American cattle ranchers wish Trump would fix instead
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President Donald Trump’s beef import plan aims to cut prices, but cattle ranchers say it misses what’s crushing them most — the power of meat packers.
“Meat packers have created a system where they win no matter what — at the cost of everyone else,” said Will Harris, a fourth-generation cattleman and owner of White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia.
Harris, who plans to hand off the operation to his children, said his farm handles every step of production, from raising cattle to processing and selling beef, giving him a clear view of how prices are set.
AMERICA’S SMALLEST CATTLE HERD IN 70 YEARS MEANS REBUILDING WILL TAKE YEARS AND BEEF PRICES COULD STAY HIGH
Sixth-generation cattle rancher Mark Kirkpatrick feeds heifers on the Stoker-Kirkpatrick Ranch in Post, Texas. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
At the center of that pricing power sit the “Big Four” — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef — anchoring the U.S. beef supply chain from pasture to plate.
Together, the packing titans process about 85% of the grain-fattened cattle that become steaks, roasts and other supermarket cuts.
“The U.S. beef market is so highly concentrated that a small number of dominant packers control processing, distribution and pricing. This allows them to pay ranchers less for cattle while charging consumers more at the store. When cheap imported beef enters the system, it allows packers to increase their margins,” Harris told Fox News Digital.
It’s a concern echoed deep into cattle country.
Texas cattle rancher Cole Bolton said he sees the same problem in the Lone Star State.
IN TEXAS CATTLE COUNTRY, ONE RANCHER WELCOMES TRUMP’S FOCUS ON DECADES OF THIN MARGINS
Cattle rancher Cole Bolton and his wife in Texas. (Courtesy of Cole Bolton)
“What the real issue is, is the price differential between the big four packers and what they’re paying us for the product,” said Bolton, the owner of K&C Cattle Company.
Those margins, Bolton said, have been squeezed for decades. “Ranchers have dealt with such thin margins of profitability for the last 20 years.”
While ranchers like Bolton and Harris say Trump’s temporary expansion of U.S. beef imports from Argentina may help ease prices in the short term, both warn it is no substitute for rebuilding domestic production.
“Imports should be a bridge, not a long-term replacement,” Harris said. “We must rebuild the American cattle herd, protect American farmers and ensure transparency, so consumers understand where their beef comes from. Long-term affordability depends on a healthy, resilient domestic cattle industry — not permanent dependence on foreign beef.”
Brad Randel rounds up some of his Black Angus cattle to sell at auction on Sept. 12, 2022, in McCook, Nebraska. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Years of drought, high feed costs and an aging ranching population have thinned herds, leaving the U.S. cattle supply at its lowest level in more than 70 years.
“I think it’s going to take a while to fix this crisis that we’re in with the cattle shortage. My message to consumers is simple: Folks, be patient. We’ve got to build back our herds,” Bolton told Fox News Digital.
He noted that the cattle industry, over the last five years, has weathered one setback after another, from market turmoil to extreme weather conditions.
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Authorities are investigating a shooting that left a man dead in a car in Boyle Heights on Sunday night.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, a “multiple shots fired” call came out at 9:45 p.m. near 4th and Mott streets.
“When officers arrived, they found a vehicle stopped in lanes,” an LAPD spokesperson confirmed to KTLA. “Upon further investigation, they found a man … suffering from a gunshot wound.”
The victim, who was only listed as a Hispanic man in his 30s, was pronounced dead at the scene by L.A. Fire Department paramedics, the LAPD spokesperson said.
There was no information on a suspect right away. Video from the scene showed investigators centering their probe around an SUV, with the area blocked off and a white tent erected.
Nancy Fontan and KTLA photojournalist Dan Lunsford contributed to this report.
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Detective Robert Bolanos has died after a “lengthy illness,” the sheriff’s department announced Sunday.
Detective Bolanos joined LASD in 2000, working in the North County Correctional Facility and the Men’s Central Jail. He completed his patrol training at the Century Sheriff’s Station, where he later became a school resource officer.
He ended his career as an LASD detective working out of the Pico Rivera Sheriff’s Station.
“We extend our heartfelt condolences to his loved ones, friends, and partners in tan and green during this difficult time,” the sheriff’s department said.
Los Angeles, Ca
A strong El Niño is coming to California. You may notice something different at the beach
El Niño is known for bringing soaking storms to California, especially the state’s southern half. A lesser-known side effect of the climate phenomenon? The Pacific Ocean’s famously frigid waters may be a little more welcoming.
El Niño tends to be associated with warmer-than-average ocean temperatures all along the West Coast, NOAA research scientist Dillon Amaya told KTLA’s parent company, Nexstar.
Just how warm are we talking? There’s a range of outcomes, Amaya explained. If you look at the two strongest El Niño events on record – the one from 1997-1998 and the one from 2015-2016 – the water at Scripps Beach in La Jolla got as warm as 74 or 76 degrees in late summer. That’s compared to around 68 degrees in an average year.
This year’s El Niño could be one for the record books, as well. The latest forecast showed an increased chance of a “super” (or very strong) El Niño.
“Much of the U.S. West Coast is currently experiencing a strong marine heatwave,” Amaya pointed out. “Add in El Niño and long-term warming from climate change, and we could be looking at record-breaking ocean temperatures this year.”
To get a better sense of what we might be in for, take a look at the chart below of sea surface temperatures from Scripps Beach.
The black line shows the average water temperature when you look at every year since 1950. The orange and purple lines show the water temperatures during our strongest El Niño events.
“These ‘Super El Niños’ kept ocean temperatures much warmer than average for almost the entire year,” Amaya said.
Now focus your attention on the columns of the chart shaded in red. Those are the winter months when an El Niño was present. While it’s more likely you’re brave enough to get in the water in the summer months, the effects of El Niño are more pronounced in winter and spring, Amaya said.
You can see the range of all El Niño water temperatures in that band of gray, from as low as 54 degrees to as high as 64 degrees in winter. But there’s a lot more gray above the black line than below it, Amaya pointed out, showing more often than not the water is warmer-than-average during an El Niño winter.
In addition to bringing the heat, El Niño tends to have other impacts on West Coast beaches, as well. It can create higher tides and stronger swells, pounding California’s beaches and contributing to erosion along the coast.
Not to mention the other problems associated with warming oceans. “The last time we had a very intense and sustained marine heatwave, we saw mass seabird die-offs, whale entanglements, kelp forest degradation, harmful algal blooms which poisoned shellfish (and surfers!), sea lion starvation and northward fish migration,” Amaya said. “These impacts could resurface if El Niño prolongs or even intensifies the ongoing marine heatwave.”
Warmer waters can also make storms more intense, and in rarer cases bring tropical cyclones to the California coast.
It’s too soon to tell how El Niño will play out this year. It’s favored to begin soon, at some point between now and July.
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