‘This is going to hurt us’: U.S. ranchers push back on Trump’s Argentina beef deal

Geoff Bennett:

Farmers ranchers and cattle producers are opposing President Trump's plan to buy more beef from Argentina, which he says could help offset the soaring prices of meat in the U.S.

Beef and veal prices have jumped nearly 14 percent over the past year, but many cattle ranchers and farmers groups are concerned this move will come at their loss. It's the latest in a series of deals the president is working on with Argentina to combat that country's deepening economic crisis.

The president defended his plan while speaking to reporters over the weekend.

Question:

What do you have to say to U.S. farmers who feel that the deal is benefiting Argentina more than it is them, as they are…

(Crosstalk)

Donald Trump, President of the United States: Look, Argentina is fighting for its life, young lady. You don't know anything about it. They're fighting for their life. Nothing's benefiting Argentina. They're fighting for their life. You understand what that means? They have no money. They have no anything.

Geoff Bennett:

And we're joined now by Buck Wehrbein, president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.

Thanks for being with us, sir.

Buck Wehrbein, President, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association:

Thank you, Geoff.

Geoff Bennett:

So help us understand your opposition. Why are your members so strongly against expanding Argentine beef imports right now? From the outside, ranchers appear to be doing better with higher beef prices. So what's the core concern?

Buck Wehrbein:

The core concern is that it's a misguided attempt to lower prices to the consumer. And what the rhetoric and ideas and so forth that the president has put forth has big negative impacts on our markets, like our futures market.

And that is instantaneous. And yet the lag time from our cattle markets to the price in the grocery store is long. I mean, that's years in the making. And so this is going to negatively impact producers while doing almost nothing for consumers.

Geoff Bennett:

Well, what's driving prices today? What are the main forces that are pushing beef prices up?

Buck Wehrbein:

Yes, thank you, Geoff. That's a long process.

There are reasons why the herd has become smaller. A lot of times, it's droughts, so there's lack of feed. And the cattle are raised all over the country. And it takes land and forage and grass and so forth. So when it's dry, there's fewer cows, which lowers the amount of cattle to process. And so — and that's happened over time.

It's a fairly common occurrence in the cattle business. So the herd gets bigger and it gets smaller and has forever. And it will come back and ranchers will restock their herds as they have grass available to them. And the market will take care of that. The market will do that itself.

Geoff Bennett:

When you hear the president say that this would help farmers in Argentina and that, in his words, this is a country fighting for their life, what's your response to that? How does that strike you?

Buck Wehrbein:

I certainly can share — being an ag person, I can certainly share their pain and we have been there ourselves as well.

Argentina, it's not just the amount of beef coming in, but they have a long history of foot-and-mouth disease. USDA has not done a good enough job yet of making sure that everything coming from there is safe. And so we're not only concerned about the amount of beef that comes in, but also the animal health issues. And so this is a bigger thing than just cattle prices.

Geoff Bennett:

We also know that some Republican senators from cattle states have expressed their frustration and objection to the White House alongside groups like yours. Is that message landing? Is it resonating with anybody at the White House right now?

Buck Wehrbein:

Well, I can't answer that. I don't know what the president listens to and what he thinks.

We just want him to get the message from us we're his — we're his friends. We voted for him. And this is going to hurt us and not help the people that he's trying to help. And we certainly applaud his wanting to help consumers, but it's going to be at our expense and it's not actually going to help them.

Geoff Bennett:

So, if not more Argentine beef, what should the administration be doing right now to help bring prices down?

Buck Wehrbein:

Yes, there are things that they can do. It will take time, but the market will take care of itself. And they have got the money and the commitment to build us a facility in South Texas to deal with the New World screwworm, which is a pest making its way through Mexico that we will get here.

And that's going to hurt us even more on our supplies. So they can get going on that. They made a commitment in August and we are very grateful for that, but nothing has happened yet. We have got the Endangered Species Act with wolves that are killing lots of calves and black vultures doing the same thing.

And so they could work on things like the Endangered Species Act that are invasive and are hard on our producers and other regulatory items that could help ranchers be confident that they can rebuild their herd and as soon as they're able to when they get grass again. So there are things that can be done.

The main message, though, is that the markets work and they will work, and what we don't need is anybody manipulating them.

Geoff Bennett:

Buck Wehrbein, president of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, good to speak with you, sir. Thanks for your time.

Buck Wehrbein:

Thank you, Geoff. I appreciate it.