R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard said U.S. cattle ranchers are facing rising bankruptcies and a shrinking domestic market as President Donald Trump moves to temporarily increase beef imports from Argentina.
Bullard, speaking on Fox & Friends Weekend late last year, said more than half of all cattle operations in the United States have closed since 1980. He said an additional 106,000 ranches were lost between 2017 and 2022. “Our industry has been shrinking for decades,” he said, citing low inventory levels in 2022-23 that followed drought conditions in states including Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota and Kansas.
He noted that four large beef packers control about 80% of the U.S. cattle market, making it difficult for ranchers to maintain or expand herds. Bullard said U.S. producers have not been able to differentiate their product with country-of-origin labels, and that past imports have displaced some domestic production.
“We’ve lost over half of all the cattle operations that were in business just over a generation ago in 1980.”@RCALFUSA’s Bill Bullard breaks down the massive COLLAPSE of America’s cattle operations over the past 40 years.
— Farm Action (@FarmActionUS) February 11, 2026
“That’s an alarming rate of loss in an industry that is… pic.twitter.com/PBVSbntT03
The Trump administration’s February 6 proclamation temporarily increases imports of lean beef trimmings from Argentina by 80,000 metric tons under tariff-rate quotas for 2026, with the first tranche of 20,000 metric tons scheduled for February 13 to March 31. The White House cited droughts in 2022, wildfires affecting grazing lands, and restrictions on Mexican cattle imports following the detection of New World screwworms in 2025 as factors affecting domestic supply.
According to the White House, the U.S. cattle inventory totaled 94.2 million head, including 28.7 million beef cows, as of July 2025. Ground beef prices averaged $6.69 per pound in December 2025, the highest level recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics since tracking began in the 1980s. Despite higher prices, U.S. demand for beef remained steady, and imports reached 4.64 billion pounds in 2024.
The policy drew criticism from House Agriculture Committee Democrats, who said the import plan favors foreign suppliers over U.S. ranchers. In a February 11, 2026 tweet, they wrote that the policy “prioritizes Argentina over American ranchers” and referenced a DTN report about the import plan, adding that “MAGA actually means Make Argentina Great Again.”
$40 billion to bail out Argentina. Then Trump turned his back on American ranchers and prioritized Argentinian beef instead.
— House Agriculture Committee Democrats (@HouseAgDems) February 11, 2026
Turns out MAGA actually means Make Argentina Great Again. https://t.co/af6ek1sE7C
The proclamation directs the Secretary of Agriculture to monitor domestic beef supply and advise the president on any further action. It authorizes federal agencies to implement the policy. The additional quota applies only to certain lean beef trimmings and is allocated entirely to Argentina.
