With US beef prices soaring to record highs, you might think that South Dakota cattle rancher Eric Gropper would be celebrating.
Yet while the cost of the meat in US supermarkets is now 12% higher than it was a year ago, a rise more than three times the rate of general inflation, Gropper says that he and all the other beef farmers aren’t making any more profit than usual.
There’s plenty of competition at the rancher level. That’s not the issue. The bottleneck is the meat processors. That’s where the oligopoly is. All the beef at the grocery store goes through a couple of major processors.
You can get beef for cheaper wholesale or buying beef shares. Even with processing from a smaller place, you’re looking at $8-10/lb for buying a whole beef, which is way cheaper than the grocery store. You just still need a place to keep 400+lbs of beef frozen.
It’s time to trust bust the meat processors to oblivion
Absolutely it is. We desperately need a return to the small local processor model that we used to have. As well as a pretty drastic cut in meat in general back to mid century levels.
In 1950, meat consumption was around 138lbs per person per year (with a population of 151 Million). In 2025 it was 226lbs per person per year with a population of 342 million. Going back to 1950s level of meat consumption would eliminate over 30 Billion pounds of meat per year, be WAY better for the environment, and drastically cut prices because demand would match actual supply.
Well said. I agree with you on this, there’s a reason why I became a flexitarian
They’re currently losing tons of money, as per the article. Busting up the meat packers will not help current supply issues
Busting up the meat processors can help somewhat