U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins pushed back on predictions that Americans could soon pay $10 per pound for beef, telling FOX Business the Trump administration’s plan to expand grazing lands and reopen key cattle ports is expected to bring prices down by next summer — and keep them lower through 2026.
“The Trump administration has released a new plan. We are moving toward opening up five million acres of grazing land,” USDA’s Rollins said on “Mornings with Maria” Monday. “And the president is hyper, hyper-focused on this. So our numbers and our formulas are showing that prices will start coming down as soon as next spring, and certainly by summer and fall of next year.”
On Friday, Omaha Steaks’ CEO, Nate Rempe, said the nation’s shrinking cattle supply and record demand are driving a “$10-per-pound reality” that could stretch family budgets for years.
“We are headed for what I’m calling … the $10-a-pound reality. By [the] third quarter of ’26, families are gonna see $10 a pound [for] ground beef in the grocery store. So we’re in for a bit of a haul here,” Rempe said. “I don’t believe we’ll see price[s] come down in any meaningful way until sometime in 2027.”
OMAHA STEAKS CEO WARNS AMERICAN FAMILIES WILL SOON FACE ‘$10-A-POUND REALITY’ FOR BEEF
Beef prices are at record highs after a drought left the U.S. cattle inventory at its lowest level in 70 years. According to the latest Consumer Price Index data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, beef and veal prices rose 14.7% year over year in September, while uncooked ground beef was up 12.9%.
The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ latest Sept. 2025 reading shows the average U.S. price for a pound of beef is $6.30.
“He was very well-spoken. I do believe, though, that his forecast is not going to be correct,” Rollins responded. “But the idea that we won’t get prices down until 2027, I think there are a couple of important factors here.”
“We are suffering from the last administration’s literal war on cattle. If you remember, they wanted to reduce the herd sizes because they believe that cattle caused climate change,” she started to explain. “The second thing is that there is no doubt, because of drought … that we are at a low herd size. Now you marry that to the fact that we have an 8% increase in protein and beef demand in the market. People want more beef.”
“And again, you’re in this perfect storm that we’re in.”
The Trump administration on Friday announced several new trade deals that could lead to tariff reductions on certain goods, including beef exports from Argentina. The framework for a deal with Argentina also includes lower tariffs on Argentine beef imports but does not increase the United States’ import quota, FOX Business previously reported.
Rep. Troy Downing, R-Mont., also joined “Mornings with Maria” on Monday, where he discussed high beef prices and voiced support for the White House’s quick-response measures.
“One of my concerns, coming from a beef-producing state, is that we get beef prices high enough that folks start looking for alternative proteins, which would be bad for my district,” Downing said. “We need to really be focused on regrowing that American herd.”
“I think these are short-term fixes to try to get to the real goal of – how do we regrow the American herd? How do we make sure that our farmers and ranchers are doing what they can do to be successful? Because we don’t want to disadvantage them, but we need to be very careful that we don’t get to $10 or greater [for] ground beef, because at that point, families on budgets are gonna stop buying beef … and it’s going to be really difficult for the industry to crawl back from that.”
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