Ground beef just hit a record $6.89 a pound, up 80% since 2019 — and nobody along the supply chain sees relief coming. Ranchers like Eric Gropper point to years of drought that have shrunk cattle herds to their lowest level in decades. Meanwhile, meatpackers have been hammered by labor shortages and plant closures. And restaurants have had no choice but to keep raising prices.
But how much of this is the market, and how much is manipulation? Since the late 1970s, just four companies — Tyson, JBS, Cargill, and National Beef — have come to control roughly 80% of the American beef market. The Justice Department is now investigating, and McDonald’s and Target are among those suing over alleged price-fixing.
So how much has consolidation driven up prices? And would breaking up these companies actually lead to lower beef prices?
00:00 – Intro
01:16 – The Rise of Meatpackers
03:03 – Independent Ranchers
04:42 – The Selling Stage
05:20 – The Investigations
09:03 – Meatpacker Profits
10:23 – Consumer Prices
12:28 – The Future for Ranchers
14:29 – Credits
Read “I’ve opened more than 25 restaurants. If I could start over, I’d make 1 major change to the menu”: https://bit.ly/4dEu5kT
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#beefindustry #foodcost #consolidation #ranchers #soexpensive
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Beef Is More Expensive Than Ever. So Why Are Cattle Ranchers Broke? | So Expensive | Business Insider
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Read “I’ve opened more than 25 restaurants. If I could start over, I’d make 1 major change to the menu”: https://bit.ly/4nXEc7P
And “The best meat delivery services of 2026, tested and reviewed”: https://bit.ly/4uhwR5d
Stop buying beef! I want demand for beef to drop to zero and stay there! Raising cattle is by far the worst type of animal agriculture for climate change, deforestation and biodiversity loss. This channel has videos about it. Red meat is a probable carcinogen, and has excessive saturated fat. My nephew owns and operates a cattle ranch here in the USA. I want to see him prosper, but there are other ways to earn a living!
At the core of this video is the nonsense claim that 4 competing companies collectively “control” 80% of something. that’s a meaningless argument. It is as logical as saying “cattle rustlers control 100% of the cattle market”. or “business insider controls 100% of the business insider content on YouTube”, get a f’ing clue. If you have 1 massive competitor, let alone 3, you don’t “control” anything.
@sgeine”Just four major corporations collectively control roughly 85% of the United States beef processing and fed-cattle market. This concentrated oligopoly—often called the “Big Four”—dominates the slaughtering and distribution of grain-fattened cattle into steaks and roasts.”- AI summary of the results of a Google search. Sources include Reuters and the web site found by searching for wherethefoodcomesfrom
McBloomberg, Mc2030 initiative and McGreed.
@someguy2135 loon or troll
How many problems can be traced back to Nixon at this point?
I tried looking at local butchers who sell local cattle, the prices were even higher. We eat beef rarely now
Costs the same in the UK but for a Kilogram. Scottish beef is all grass fed too. And no hormones or antibiotics.
I’m really glad I like chicken!
Are you kidding me?? Leave it to the Trump administration to blame others for a problem; there’s always going to be problems when it comes to the food supply. I would put money down to predict that the last part of that statement is going to be their excuse at the end of this administrative term; well, what could we do. Here’s a suggestion take a look at what the government did during the dust bowl.
We must just stop eating it, and it will go down in price. There’s no good reason that beef is almost $8/ per lb., and that’s in Ohio…. 🤦🏾♂️🤷🏾🤷🏾🤷🏾
Thanks to those greedy rich ppl contaminating ticks with th alpha gal syndrome ALOT of Americans can’t eat beef,pork,or lamb. This is horrible I want a steak & cant now. Thier pushing that vegan crap on us. Can’t something be done about that,can we all sue them. I want real meat not chemical crap
I hate that trump says he’s for the people he’s not all us ranchers don’t like him
What are the economics of owing a meat packer company?
Capitalism is the problem.
Everyone wants the cheapest beef—until they’re the ones paying to raise the cattle.
I barely buy beef anymore because of the price. I shop surgically now.
It doesn’t matter if therevare 4 or 50 beef companies. They do not and cannot settle price . The market sets the price based on supply and demand. Im so sick of communist economist. If anything the big companies have made beef cheaper.