Trump's possible Argentina Deal sparks beef With Texas ranchers

AUSTIN (Nexstar) -- Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is among the Texas ranchers who are speaking out against the Trump administration's proposal to increase imports of Argentine beef, specifically quadrupling the amount of Argentinian beef it currently imports. Cattle ranchers across Texas and the U.S. have voiced concerns over the deal, fearing that it could undermine their profits.

Trump has since defended his policies, saying in a Truth Social post that cattle ranchers “don’t understand” his policies. When asked if the deal could potentially benefit Argentina more than the U.S., Trump defended the deal by saying that Argentina is “fighting for its life.” 

“They have no money, no anything, they are fighting so hard to survive. I happen to like the president of Argentina, but don’t make it sound like they’re doing great. They are dying," Trump said.

The plan, intended to lower beef prices, has struck a chord with cattle ranchers like Miller, who said he had a “disagreement” with Trump on how to lower beef prices. Industry experts have echoed those concerns throughout the week. Miller said high beef prices are spurred by a low supply of cattle, which is the lowest it has been in 75 years.

Cooper Little, the executive director of the Independent Cattlemen's Association of Texas, said his organization does not support any increase in foreign beef imports to the American market. He went on to say he believes the price of beef is at a good value as ranchers deal with higher input costs. In August, the price for a pound of ground chuck beef was $6.63, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Little said ranchers are not making money "hand over fist," but rather are making a decent income to help them pay off debts they had accumulated over years of high input costs. "These healthy prices are being used to stay in business and offset the struggles from past year over year," Little explained.

In response to Trump's suggestion, Miller has released his own five-point plan, with the intention of helping Texas ranchers and producers while simultaneously reducing prices. One priority that Miller stresses is to not rely on the quality of the beef, which Miller claims is subpar.

“It's low quality beef. We’ll have to grind it all up into hamburger. So I'm doubtful that it'll lower the price of ribeyes, sirloins or New York strips: the high quality meats," Miller explained.

Another concern that Miller shared in his plan was the increase to the agricultural trade deficit, which Miller sees as a “national security threat.” 

“Under the Biden Administration, [Biden] created an agricultural trade deficit, which was the first time in my life where we were buying more food than we were selling. That’s a security problem. Buying beef from Argentina makes that deficit go up, while we’re working hard to bring that deficit down," Miller said.

The head of the state agriculture department also advocates for expanded grazing access on federal and private lands, and applauded Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum for pledging to reopen federal lands for grazing.

“That was shut down. Cattle contracts were canceled under the Biden administration. Ranchers had to liquidate. That's another reason that we don't have as many cows as we need. Those were sold off and went off to the slaughter because we're in a drought," Miller said.

Of all the points listed on his outline, Miller said that one was “sure-fire” to work: a tax credit similar to the child tax credit, but with heifers instead. Heifers are young female cows that have not given birth yet. 

“These cow calf producers, they've been making pretty decent money. They could actually use a tax credit. Take it right off their taxes. That would encourage them, and they would start keeping heifers immediately and that rebuilds our herds," Miller said.

Another one of Miller’s key points in his plan is to import live cattle “off the hoof,” rather than “beef in a box.” Miller claims that doing this would decrease beef prices “overnight,” but this has been complicated by the arrival of the new world screwworm, a parasite that eats the flesh of cattle. When asked about how he plans to combat this, Miller called the solution “pretty simple.” 

“Before any cattle are imported, they go to a quarantine pen. The U.S. veterinarians have to inspect every single one of them. You can give a shot of dectomax or ivermectin, which are anti-parasitic drugs. It would kill any screw worms, if they were infected. There’s virtually no chance of bringing an animal that had screwworm infection," Miller explained.

Little said his organization does not support that bullet point of Miller's plan because of how much destruction the parasite could cause if it does make it north of the border, like it did in the 20th century.

"Safeguarding the herd is a big thing the government can do for Texas cattleman, at this point, especially if you're concerned with high beef prices. Let screwworm get across the border and then see how high beef prices rise," Little said.