Beef prices in the U.S. have climbed to record highs. Learn more on why, plus recipes to make the most out of the beef you've purchased.
— The Associated Press (@apnews.com) July 24, 2025 at 4:00 PM
… The average price of a pound of ground beef rose to $6.12 in June, up nearly 12% from a year ago, according to U.S. government data. The average price of all uncooked beef steaks rose 8% to $11.49 per pound…
But this is not a recent phenomenon. Beef prices have been steadily rising over the past 20 years because the supply of cattle remains tight while beef remains popular.
In fact, the U.S. cattle herd has been steadily shrinking for decades. As of Jan. 1, the U.S. had 86.7 million cattle and calves, down 8% from the most recent peak in 2019. That is the lowest number of cattle since 1951, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture…
… in 2020, a three-year drought began that dried out pastures and raised the cost of feed for cattle, according to the American Farm Bureau. Drought has continued to be a problem across the West since then, and the price of feed has put more pressure on ranchers who already operate on slim profit margins.
In response, many farmers slaughtered more female cattle than usual, which helped beef supplies in the short term but lowered the size of future herds. Lower cattle supplies has raised prices…
President Donald Trumpās tariffs have yet to have a major impact on beef prices but they could be another factor that drives prices higher because the U.S. imports more than 4 billion pounds of beef every year.
Much of what is imported is lean beef trimmings that meatpackers mix with fattier beef produced in the U.S. to produce the varieties of ground beef that domestic consumers want. Much of that lean beef comes from Australia and New Zealand that have only seen a 10% tariff, but some of it comes from Brazil where Trump has threatened tariffs as high as 50%.
If the tariffs remain in place long-term, meat processors will have to pay higher prices on imported lean beef. It wouldnāt be easy for U.S. producers to replace because the countryās system is geared toward producing fattier beef known for marbled steaks…
Nelson said that recently the drought has eased ā allowing pasture conditions to improve ā and grain prices are down thanks to the drop in export demand for corn because of the tariffs. Those factors, combined with the high cattle prices might persuade more ranchers to keep their cows and breed them to expand the size of their herds.
Even if ranchers decided to raise more cattle to help replace those imports, it would take at least two years to breed and raise them. And it wouldnāt be clear if that is happening until later this fall when ranchers typically make those decisions…
Trump take beef
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Only if this doesnāt become a more pervasive problem: www.wearegreenbay.com/news/local-n…
— Donāt Look Up 75 (@dontlookup75.bsky.social) July 27, 2025 at 9:37 AM
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Accidental shootings with deer rifles in suburbs are what's going to make a comeback.
— alarmist morisette (@technicalsquirrel.bsky.social) July 27, 2025 at 1:11 PM
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Also it would massively economically hit his own base and I'm pretty sure the treat centric squishy middle class is gonna -love- it.
— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) July 27, 2025 at 2:07 PM
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The all stick no carrot presidency crashes forward
— Schnorkles O'Bork (@schnorkles.bsky.social) July 27, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Mandatory, especially at the moment, musical coda:
RepubAnon
Funny how rising food prices arenāt front page news any more. Itās almost as though the billionaire sock puppets we call the Mainstream Media are all supporting tax cuts for the ultra rich and shifting cost to the rest of us.
And a fond farewell to Tom Lehrer- his songs are still largely relevant today
different-church-lady
@RepubAnon: Yes, almost sort of as if inflation was never theĀ real reason we had to have fascism..
zhena gogolia
@RepubAnon: The NYT had a whole article about rising prices and the word Trump did not appear in it.
Mr. Bemused Senior
I hear alligator sausage is tasty.
Baud
Even our cattle are obese.
mappy!
Let them eat Taco.
lashonharangue
@Baud: I believe that is the result of feeding them grain in feedlots. The imports were probably grass fed.
Baud
@RepubAnon:
As predictable as the sunrise.
trollhattan
@RepubAnon: Got a dozen eggs and the cashier handed me two bucks at checkout.
Thanks, Donny!
schrodingers_cat
I am sure someone will be here shortly to explain why this is Biden’s fault.
trollhattan
WTAF actually is this?
“Here, here’s half a billion dollars. Now can you leave us alone?” said nobody ever. IF YOU TRY TO PAY HIM OFF HE’LL BE BACK THE NEXT MONDAY FOR MORE. DO YOU NOT GET THIS?
Ryan
@mappy!: If you don’t mind enchiladas and similar, 40/40/20 beef, black bean, rice will really stretch that meat out.
Ryan
@trollhattan: What did you hand him, a 20?
trollhattan
This is a family blog!
Kirk
@trollhattan:
Melancholy Jaques
@RepubAnon:
See also Gaza & the president’s personal responsibility for everything the IDF is doing there.
Sirkowski
You don’t need 40 hamburgers. You can have two.
Central Planning
@trollhattan: Itās always BJ After Dark.
Steve LaBonne
@trollhattan:Ā They need to study their Kipling.
It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation
To call upon a neighbour and to say: —
“We invaded you last night — we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.”
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you’ve only to pay ’em the Dane-geld
And then you’ll get rid of the Dane!
It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say: —
“Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray;
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to say: —
“We never pay any-one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost;
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!”
Baud
@Sirkowski:
Nice reference.
Librettist
Shifting consumer choice does not matter in these explainers. Real Americans eat beef. Just happenstance that media moguls all have ranches.
There is just a ridiculous amount of chicken sandwich places in the fast food market space.
No one hunts anymore.
Baud
Baud
trollhattan
@Baud:Ā ā
Shit.
There was a shoot-em-up today in a Reno casino and it didn’t even make national news.
Peke Daddy
Precision fermentation and cellular agriculture are slowly but surely appearing on the market. If handled correctly, this will ease beef prices. PF and CA proteins are coming down in price, just as the price of insulin, a protein, has plummeted once made with PF. It is possible.
Baud
Miss Bianca
@trollhattan: It made the news – I saw something come up in one of my feeds –Ā but the shootings weren’t referenced per se in the headline – just something about “trouble” or “chaos” or some shit at casino in Reno.
Baud
Librettist
@Miss Bianca:
Any rumors that Nevada is getting hurt by declining tourist numbers is leftist claptrap. But if you could keep this story on the relative down low, that would be great.
Nukular Biskits
@Mr. Bemused Senior:
It is … but it has a bite.
lowtechcyclist
@trollhattan:Ā ā
Indeed!
Jeez, Harvard, you never hear of Danegeld?ā
ETA: Beaten to it by Kirk@15 and Steve LaBonne@19.
stinger
@Nukular Biskits: LOL
steve g
I’m so old I remember when ground beef was just 5.35 and a steak was 10.53 a pound, a year ago. I don’t really see how it is possible for our society to survive with prices so high now. That’s getting darn close to a dollar more for steak. Heaven forfend. Also I have yet to eat any beef this year so whatever.
lowtechcyclist
@Steve LaBonne:
Shorter Kipling: “The only way to win is not to play.”
hells littlest angel
Which will it be?
Beef prices are high because of Biden’s drought.
Or:
High beef prices are more than made up for by $1.99 a gallon gasoline.
Or:
Let them eat venison.
Melancholy Jaques
The title of this post brings back memories of the Mondale campaign; he used that line against Gary Hart in the primary debates.
Quick! Without looking it up. Who was Mondale’s VP nominee?
Melancholy Jaques
@hells littlest angel:
It’s “We know beef is expensive, but if that’s the price we have to pay for white supremacy, we’ll gladly pay it.”
Eyeroller
@trollhattan: They are academics, they do not know how to deal with mobsters.
VeniceRiley
@Melancholy Jaques: Geraldine Ferraro!
laura
We’re going to see the collapse of the domestic dairy industry where the workforce is predominately a foreign workforce. Miss one day of milking and that heifer is a goner.
lowtechcyclist
@Melancholy Jaques:
Geraldine Ferraro.Ā Ask a tough one next time!
kindness
When asked about high beef prices, Trump will zoom past Joe Biden and blame Obama for the higher prices.Ā He certainly won’t take any responsibility for it.
The Audacity of Krope
He doesn’t know the meaning of the word.
zhena gogolia
@Melancholy Jaques: Geraldine Ferraro
ETA: Of course I’ve been preempted.
A puzzle I was doing yesterday involved the name of the boat Gary Hart was on with Donna Rice. Remember that? How innocent we all were then.
zhena gogolia
@Eyeroller: I’m sorry, but the people making these decisions at Harvard are not academics.
trollhattan
@laura: Elmo’s robots will be reprogrammed to milk them heifers, believe you me!
trollhattan
@zhena gogolia: Was that the S.S. Monkey Business?
Boy howdy, we literally don’t know what comprises political suicide any more.
Except being a girl. That’s just wrong.
japa21
FWIW, recently got ground beef at Jewels for $1.98 a pound.Ā It was a special on 1/2# pub burgers, but we are just using it as regular ground beef.Ā Probably around 80% lean.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@zhena gogolia:
YouTube – Bonnie Raitt āMonkey Businessā
mali muso
Glad that I transitioned to a vegetarian diet 2 years ago. But if the price of soy goes up and my tofu/tempeh/alternative proteins get too pricey, I’m going to be pretty cranky.
satby
My main grocery shopping is now done using an app called Flashfood . It’s a food waste reduction app that lets stores sell slow moving specialty items, produce, and groceries before their last sell-by date for 1/2 off. There are seven stores in my area that are partners, and if you’re ok with being a bit flexible with your menu you can do great. I can get all my essentials, most of my favorites, and only have to buy coffee creamer and pet food, and even those are sometimes marked down.
Miss Bianca
@Librettist: Err?
Ealbert
@laura:
For your future information, a heifers is a young,Ā not yet bred, female cow, so they are not yet able to produce milk.
This ends today’s lesson in dairy farming.
Melancholy Jaques
@zhena gogolia:
@lowtechcyclist:
This is evidence that the people commenting here are either extremely engaged with our political history or just kinda old.
The Audacity of Krope
@Melancholy Jaques: That was only 40 years ago and a noted historical first.Ā I’m not surprised people here remember. Shit, I knew the answer and I had my first birthday that year.
Gvg
@lowtechcyclist: Trump likes making ādealsā though and there are also stories that the foreign deals he thinks he made are not really good deals. The other countries have been getting the better of him because he is so desperate to be seen making deals. I am not sure itās at that point yet for Harvard, but they possibly are smarter and better negotiators than senile old Trump. The time may come when they could make a deal. Maybe.
Iād rather he be frustrated. But I also want all the schools not as rich as Harvard to survive, and I havenāt a clue how to manage that.
Eyeroller
@zhena gogolia: āDon’t want to dox myself but the university in my town just got hit by the Trumpies and yes, they are academics, just not reserarchers for the most part.Ā Being a law professor is still being an academic.
The Audacity of Krope
@Gvg: If Harvard makes a deal anything like Columbia made, before long they will letting American mythology replace history and suspending/expelling students for wrongthink.
ruckus
@kindness:
@The Audacity of Krope:
shitforbrains seemingly knows very few words. That doesn’t means sounds won’t come out of his mouth but that the sounds will mostly be bull and shit. As he’s so often proven.
ruckus
@Melancholy Jaques:
I take offense to that. (although I am chuckling a bit….)
Melancholy Jaques
@ruckus:
Are you offended by the suggestion that you are old or that you are extremely engaged with our political history?
Martin
@hells littlest angel: Let them drink gasoline.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@ruckus: c’mon, “offense.” Do you think we don’t read what you write?
I remember Monkey Business too, so I guess I’m marked as both.
Martin
@Eyeroller: Yep, they are primarily going to be academics. Though, these institutions are almost certainly being advised by very good professional lawyers, and the academics are likely to listen to the lawyers if they are the ones making these recommendations.
But yeah, academics are biased toward trusting people are acting in good faith so they need to overcome their nature to operate here.
Kayla Rudbek
@trollhattan: once you pay Danegeld, you never get rid of the Dane. As true now as it was in Dark Ages England
Kayla Rudbek
@Peke Daddy: Bujoldās vat protein? If they can get it to work, it would probably be a good thingā¦
Ken_L
We Australians were hugely entertained by Mad King Don’s gloating about all the beef America would send our way now we’ve lifted the rest of our partial ban on imports. We export hundreds of thousands of tons of the stuff every year, including to the USA. We’ll import as much American beef next year as we did in the last: about 200 tons. I assume it was the chunks of fat the yanks call “brisket”, specially ordered by the US embassy for July 4 parties.
H-Bob
@Kayla Rudbek: On the other hand, not paying the Danegeld got England conquered by Sven Forkbeard and William the Conqueror.