NTD News host Tiffany Meier opened her interview with a phrase that sounded like a campaign slogan on purpose: “Make beef affordable again.”
She said that message is coming from the White House Office of Trade and Manufacturing, and she pointed to Trade Adviser Peter Navarro posting on X that President Donald Trump is “going after” four major meat packers – Cargill, JBS, Tyson, and National Beef – branding them the “big beef cartel.”
Meier also noted Navarro published an op-ed in the Washington Examiner with a sharp headline: Inflation Didn’t Eat Your Steak, a Cartel Did.
And she added that Congressman Tim Burchett has sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi to support what she described as a Justice Department antitrust investigation into foreign-owned meat packing cartels, which she said are based largely in Brazil and China.
To dig into what all of that means in real life, Meier brought on Steve Lucie, a fifth-generation cattle rancher, and the tone shifted from slogans and politics to the nuts-and-bolts reality of selling cattle in a market dominated by a few buyers.
What Ranchers Mean When They Say “Cartel”
Lucie’s first point was simple and kind of blunt: unless he sells beef directly to local customers, his cattle almost inevitably ends up going through one of the “big four.”
He told Meier that once those companies have the beef in their hands, they get to decide what the boxed beef sells for to restaurants, grocery stores, and everyone else down the chain.
That’s where the “cartel” talk comes from, at least from Lucie’s perspective.
He said the big packers control roughly 85% of that market, and when that much processing power is concentrated in so few hands, the people raising cattle don’t really have the leverage to set a fair price.
Lucie framed it as a lack of choice.
He has beef to sell, he has to sell to someone, and the companies with the plants and the processing capacity are the ones effectively setting the terms.
There’s a weird emotional whiplash in that, because consumers look at high grocery store prices and assume ranchers are cashing in, while Lucie is telling Meier that he feels squeezed from the other side.
If his numbers are even close to what he’s describing, the anger people feel at the meat case is aimed at the wrong link in the chain.
The October Example That Stuck With Him
Meier pressed him to connect the dots between packer power and what shoppers pay at the store, and Lucie gave a story he seemed to still be irritated about.
He said back in October, when President Trump made comments about trade deals with Brazil and Argentina and importing more beef, it didn’t just create political chatter—it moved the market.
Lucie told Meier that fat cattle were selling around $2.40 a pound on the live market, and after those comments, the packers lowered the price they were paying.
Within about two weeks, he said, the live market dropped to around $2.10.
The part that makes people grind their teeth is what he said happened next.
While ranchers were getting less off the farm, Lucie said the boxed beef price went “up and up” in the store, meaning consumers paid more at the same time producers were paid less.
He described it as packers using “a little blurb from the president” to their advantage, which is a pretty sharp accusation when you think about it.
The suggestion is that a concentrated industry can seize on news headlines – real or speculative – and turn it into margin, even if the underlying supply situation hasn’t changed overnight.
And when that kind of thing happens repeatedly, it becomes hard for anyone outside the system to trust that price changes are purely “the market” doing its normal thing.
At that point, “market” starts sounding like a polite word for whoever has the power to pull levers.
How Manipulation Could Work, Even Without A Smoking Gun
Lucie was careful not to claim he knows every internal detail of what packers are doing, and he actually said he isn’t in the business of knowing what they do “right or wrong.”
But he also said he believes they can manipulate the market easily, because they can adjust how much meat they cut and produce each week, and they can even close a plant for a period of time.
That kind of control matters because beef isn’t a product you can just pause and store forever at the production level.
Cattle keep eating, droughts keep happening, financing keeps charging interest, and ranchers can’t simply hold the product back indefinitely while they wait for a better deal.
Lucie’s argument, in plain language, is that when a small group can throttle processing, they can influence supply downstream and pricing upstream.
And he added a point that’s easy to miss: consumers don’t have control over it either, because you can’t bargain with a supermarket shelf the same way you can bargain at a flea market.
Meier’s questions kept pushing toward “alternatives,” and Lucie didn’t pretend the system is completely closed.
He said there are ways for people to buy directly from ranchers if they know a local farmer or a rancher who sells beef.
Buying Local Beef Sounds Great, But The System Isn’t Built For It
Lucie told Meier he personally sells beef to local people in his area, and he offered a comparison that was meant to hit viewers right in the wallet.
He said ribeye steaks might be $18 to $20 a pound in the store, but if someone buys a half beef from him, the math can look dramatically different.
He described a rough example: an animal might be priced around $2.20 to $2.30 a pound at market price, and then the buyer pays a processor for the cutting and packaging.
By the time the customer gets the meat back – steaks, hamburger, everything – Lucie said the average cost could work out to around $6.50 a pound.
That’s the kind of number that makes people sit up straight, because it’s not just “a little cheaper.”
It’s the difference between beef becoming a special treat and beef being normal again.
But he also explained why this isn’t as simple as telling everyone to “buy local.”
Lucie said government regulations and the shortage of local processors across the country are a major reason the big four have so much market share.
That’s the quiet part people bump into when they try to do the “right” thing.
It’s one thing to want to buy a half cow; it’s another thing to find a processor with availability, meet inspection requirements, handle freezer space, and coordinate the logistics without it turning into a second job.
So even when direct purchase is possible, the system still funnels most people back toward the same industrial pipeline, because that pipeline is the only one scaled to feed millions of households every day.
Foreign Ownership And Food Security Fears
Meier shifted the conversation toward the “foreign element,” noting that President Trump highlighted majority foreign ownership when he ordered DOJ scrutiny of the big four back in November, and she said he argued it jeopardizes the security of America’s food supply.
She asked Lucie how much influence Brazil and China have here.
Lucie’s answer was that the influence is tremendous.
He told Meier that JBS is a Brazilian-owned company and is the biggest meat packer in the country, and he added that National Beef also has ties to Brazil, as he understands it.
He also laid out a global picture that helps explain why the issue makes people uneasy.
Lucie said Brazil is the biggest exporter of beef in the world, and China is the biggest importer – meaning China is the biggest buyer.
If you’re someone who thinks about food like a strategic resource, that combination can feel like a vulnerability.
Lucie’s view was that when foreign companies “wrap up” a large share of the American beef market, Americans have less control over their own food supply.
He connected it to the current cattle situation in the United States, saying the American beef herd is very low – about as low as it was in the 1950s.
That means supply is already tight, and then you layer concentrated processing and foreign ownership on top of it, and it starts to look like a fragile system that could break badly under pressure.
Whether you agree with the politics or not, the basic logic is hard to ignore: when your supply is low and your processing is concentrated, you don’t have much slack.
And systems without slack tend to fail in dramatic ways when something unexpected hits them.
What Would Actually Bring Prices Down?
Meier asked Lucie, near the end, what factors need to change to lower prices at grocery stores, and he didn’t overcomplicate it.
He said the big factor is supply and demand, and right now the supply of beef is short because the herd is low.
He referenced a “placements report” that shows how many heifers are being placed in feedlots, explaining that if heifers are going into feedlots, they’re not being retained by farmers to build future herd size.
And he said that report was basically dead even compared to last year, which suggests herd growth might not happen as quickly as people want.
Then he explained the rancher’s dilemma in a way that probably resonates beyond agriculture.
If a rancher sees signals that prices could crash – like the October episode he described – why would they invest heavily in expanding their herd if they think they’ll lose money later?
In other words, stability matters as much as headline high prices.
Lucie said ranchers need a steady, solid price, while consumers need a price that feels fair and sustainable, and the only way to thread that needle is to avoid market manipulation and keep the market “free and open” so it can work itself out.
That last part is where the antitrust talk comes back around.
The whole reason Meier brought up Navarro’s “cartel” label and Burchett’s letter to Pam Bondi is that the administration is signaling it wants enforcement pressure, not just speeches.
And if anything is going to change, it won’t be a single raid, a single press release, or a single angry post online.
It’ll be structural – more processing options, fewer choke points, more transparency, and enough competition that no one can quietly squeeze ranchers while shoppers keep paying more.
Lucie thanked Meier for having him on, and she thanked him for the insight, but the bigger takeaway from their exchange is that beef prices are not just about droughts and feed costs anymore.
If Lucie’s view matches reality, then the fight isn’t just happening in pastures and feedlots – it’s happening in boardrooms, in processing schedules, and in the quiet space where a few decisions can ripple all the way to your grocery receipt.
Gary’s love for adventure and preparedness stems from his background as a former Army medic. Having served in remote locations around the world, he knows the importance of being ready for any situation, whether in the wilderness or urban environments. Gary’s practical medical expertise blends with his passion for outdoor survival, making him an expert in both emergency medical care and rugged, off-the-grid living. He writes to equip readers with the skills needed to stay safe and resilient in any scenario.
