Don Coover is a Kansas large animal veterinarian who also runs a cow-calf operation. He’s running to represent the 2nd District in Congress.
DonCooverForCongress.com
Today, American farmers and ranchers produce the most wholesome, nutritious, safest and desirable beef in the history of the United States. I know, because I’m a large animal veterinarian in southeast Kansas and run my own cow-calf operation.
I also know that American beef is not the cheapest you can find in the world, and it shouldn’t be. While serving in the Army, I ate food from the local economy in many countries, and while it could be inexpensive, you pay for what you get both in quality and gastrointestinal health.
President Donald Trump has recently warned “the Cattle Ranchers” that “the only reason they are doing so well, for the first time in decades, is because I put Tariffs on cattle coming into the United States, including a 50% Tariff on Brazil.” He goes on to say that they are the ones who have to get beef prices down for consumers.
That announcement is intended to mislead the American consumer into believing he is taking decisive action to lower the price of groceries. The reality is that he is doing the opposite and hurting American ranchers, farmers, people who manufacture feed, butchers and semitruck drivers who move meat.
Recent reports suggest that the administration intends to allow Argentina to export into the United States four times as much beef as previously allowed (without tariffs). So instead of 20,000 metric tons of beef, now they will be able to send 80,000 metric tons to the U.S. Sounds like a heck of a lot of hamburgers, right? Sure, if you are the only one eating them. But, for every 156 pounds of beef eaten in the U.S., the Argentinian import will add only one additional pound. Doesn’t seem like so much anymore.
American Ranchers are struggling right now. We have the smallest cow herd in at least the last 75 years because of drought, very high input costs, aging producers, the very high cost of land, equipment, labor (and the availability of farm ranch labor — think immigration policy chaos), interest rates and so on. What the president is suggesting would further hurt ranchers and farmers already struggling to make ends meet and won’t bring down the cost of meat.
Just ask Nebraska’s Republican Rep. Don Bacon and Republican Sen. Deb Fischer, along with the scores of other leaders who have voiced their concerns about these same hardworking Americans.
If you are concerned about grocery prices, as most of us are, you must be concerned about the health and viability of farmers, ranchers, truck drivers who move livestock and butchers. There are lots of factors impacting grocery prices, including ill-conceived tariffs, unchecked industry consolidation, labor cost and availability, drought and other weather and water related problems, supply chain and parts availability for equipment, right-to-repair issues, political events around the world and fuel costs.
The high price of beef will come down when it gets too high, like it always does. I have lived through my share of cattle cycles. Remember the high cost of eggs? We should allow the beef producers to respond to the market and rebuild the national cow herd, like we did the chicken flocks. They will rebound, keeping in mind factors such as weather, labor, disease factors, input costs, consumer demand and so on.
This isn’t a Republican or Democratic issue. What we need are decision-makers (think politicians) who truly understand what they are making decisions about. They need to be prioritizing the citizens of the United States, not themselves and their political buddies. We must stop allowing politicians to pour water on our heads and convince us it is raining.
Don Coover of Galesburg, Kansas, is a veterinarian, Army veteran, rancher, small business owner and a Democratic candidate for Congress in Kansas’ 2nd District.
