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Beef prices in America are the highest they’ve ever been, with ground beef hitting a new record of $6.89, up 80% since 2019. But where is the money actually going, and is there any hope for prices to fall?
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00:00You probably know beef is getting more expensive, but do you know why?
00:05Let's take a look at the meat aisle in this grocery store.
00:07It seems like you have plenty of options,
00:10but most of this beef is processed by just four companies.
00:14Together, they control about 80% of the market.
00:17I call them the beef cartel.
00:19The big four haven't been convicted of any wrongdoing,
00:22but the Department of Justice is investigating how this kind of consolidation impacts what you pay.
00:27Not to mention antitrust and collusion lawsuits from retailers like Target and McDonald's.
00:34A pound of ground beef costs about $6.89 in the U.S. on average.
00:39That's 80% more expensive than in 2019.
00:43For U.S. cattle ranchers, you'd think high retail prices would at least translate to more profit.
00:47But they say they're feeling the squeeze, too.
00:50The more them industries consolidate, the easier it is for them to up the price
00:56and cut us out.
00:59Droughts, high production costs, and fewer cows are pushing prices up.
01:04But that's not the whole story.
01:06We follow the supply chain from the farm all the way to your table
01:10to find out what's actually making America's beef so expensive.
01:17To understand how the industry became so consolidated, we have to go back nearly seven decades.
01:24Before the 1960s, beef was shipped as whole carcasses to butchers, who would divide and package it themselves.
01:31You won't be disappointed in these things, ma'am.
01:34When meatpackers started cutting and boxing beef right next to the slaughterhouse, it transformed the industry,
01:40shifting control from local butchers to centralized plants.
01:43These large operations were far more efficient and made it harder for small ones to compete.
01:49The Nixon administration pushed for this kind of growth across the farming industry.
01:54During his tenure in the early 70s, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture routinely told producers to get big or
02:02get out.
02:04By the late 70s, consolidation in the meatpacking industry had started to take shape.
02:09Unlike today, the four biggest producers controlled just 25% of the market.
02:14Technological advancements in the 80s improved efficiency and scalability,
02:19and once bigger became cheaper, deregulation made it even easier for large companies to take over.
02:26Throughout this time, regulators and academics raised their concerns about the effects of consolidation,
02:30but it continued largely unchecked.
02:33After decades of mergers and acquisitions, today's big four have absorbed or replaced the previous dominant firms
02:41and boosted their market share to more than 80%.
02:44This lack of competition gives the big four a lot of power.
02:49But how does this make the beef you buy at the grocery store more expensive than it's ever been?
02:54To understand that, we have to go to the very start of the supply chain,
02:58where even before consolidation concerns, cattle ranchers are struggling.
03:06We're seven miles from the nearest asphalt road, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
03:12Eric Groper runs a cow-calf operation in South Dakota,
03:16and calving season is about to begin.
03:19A cow's gestational cycle is nine months.
03:21You get one crack at it, you know, a year.
03:25My cows are out on winter grass.
03:28This is the easy time of year, because as long as the grass is feeding them, I don't have to.
03:34Grass is a precious resource when your ranch sits on a drought zone like Eric's.
03:38As of May 2026, 61% of U.S. cattle were on land affected by drought.
03:44When drought dries up Eric's grass, he loses his cheapest and least labor-intensive feed source.
03:50So he has to buy feed, which adds to his expenses.
03:54It costs roughly $1,100 a year to run a cow, when it used to cost $5 to $800.
04:03The total operating costs for cow-calf operations jumped 29% between 2020 and 2025.
04:10And because it costs more to raise cattle, ranchers like Eric are more eager to sell off their stock
04:15rather than keep some to maintain or build the size of their herd.
04:20You do that all over the United States with this older generation cashing in on a high market,
04:25that's a whole lot of cows got.
04:28That's led to the lowest total herd size in the U.S. since 1951.
04:33All of this puts ranchers in a tough spot before they ever sell a single cow.
04:40While meatpackers don't typically buy directly from ranchers,
04:43the selling stage is where their impact on the market becomes clearer.
04:47We'll explain.
04:49A rancher like Eric sells many of his calves to feedlots,
04:52where they go to grow until they're ready for slaughter.
04:55After about four to six months, feedlots sell cattle to meatpackers.
04:59Roughly 80% are processed by one of the big four.
05:03Feedlots base what they can pay on what they expect to get for finished cattle later.
05:07When packers bid lower, what ranchers get paid shrinks too.
05:11I'm a price taker. As a rancher, you're a price taker.
05:18After the pandemic, meatpacker profits rose.
05:22Two of the big four reported record earnings in 2022.
05:26This can't possibly happen in a competitive market.
05:32And during the pandemic, the difference between what a rancher was paid for cattle
05:36and the prices meatpackers set reached its highest peak.
05:40All while consumer prices also went up.
05:43Back in the spring of 2020, the meatpacking plants were all over the news.
05:50Last month, we saw a huge price jump at the meat counter.
05:53Meat prices are expected to jump by up to 20%.
05:56We will all be paying more for meat at the grocery store for months to come.
06:01That leap prompted the DOJ to ask if meatpackers were illegally coordinating
06:06to keep the price they pay for cattle low and wholesale prices high.
06:10A wide gap between the two could mean more money for the meatpackers.
06:14Is there or was there ever an agreement to cooperate together on issues impacting supply or pricing?
06:28No.
06:29No.
06:30Not that I am worth it.
06:33Outside of the House Agricultural Committee meeting,
06:35the companies didn't publicly say much about the matter at the time.
06:38And none of the big four responded to our request for comment.
06:42The pandemic did cause some changes.
06:45Labor shortages and plant closures contributed to higher beef prices.
06:49The Meat Institute, the primary lobbying group representing the big four meatpackers,
06:53says other input costs like energy and transportation are also a factor.
06:58At the same time, the demand for beef increased.
07:01Because all of a sudden we were eating, you know,
07:05all of our meals at home in many parts of the country because of the stay-at-home restrictions.
07:08And so decrease in supply, increase in demand, prices had nowhere to go but up.
07:16Ranchers had already filed an antitrust suit against the big four the year before COVID hit.
07:22The lawsuit alleged that since at least 2015,
07:25meatpackers were working together to keep cattle prices artificially low,
07:30even as beef prices rose.
07:31Tyson responded by saying,
07:34as with similar lawsuits concerning chicken and pork,
07:37there's simply no merit to the allegations that Tyson colluded with competitors.
07:42That case resulted in an $83.5 million settlement with JBS,
07:47but the company admitted no wrongdoing.
07:49Neither the ranchers' suit nor the DOJ investigation led to major changes to the industry.
07:55But fast forward to 2025 and ranchers were getting record high prices for their cattle
08:00because demand was high and supply was low.
08:03The problem?
08:04Like Eric said, it already costs a lot more to raise cattle these days.
08:08The other problem?
08:09Prices can shift quickly.
08:11And that's what happened in October of 2025.
08:13We are working on beef and I think we have a deal on beef.
08:19President Donald Trump's plan to import more beef from Argentina
08:22was meant to increase supply and reduce consumer prices.
08:26What immediately happened was that cattle prices dropped
08:29because of the uncertainty the announcement caused.
08:32After that dip, some ranchers have estimated losing $200 to $300 per cow sold,
08:38all while consumer prices remain high.
08:41We all know and love good prices, but after 2014 and 15,
08:46we know they can be yanked out from under us so fast
08:49and put us back in the line of almost going broke
08:54that the generational gap of baby boomers and a little younger than that
09:01are cashing out in this good market.
09:05Six years after the original investigation,
09:07the DOJ has announced another probe into the same four companies.
09:11These companies now have an unprecedented ability to wield market power.
09:16In a Truth Social post from November 2025,
09:20Trump said he asked the Justice Department to investigate the meatpacking industry once again.
09:25His reasoning was nearly identical to the first time,
09:28accusing the Big Four of driving up the price of beef through illicit collusion,
09:32price fixing and price manipulation.
09:35Meatpackers maintain they've still done nothing wrong.
09:38In a statement to Business Insider,
09:40the Meat Institute said the Packers have been losing money for more than two years
09:45because of record high cattle prices.
09:47And a JBS USA spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal
09:51that the company operates in a highly regulated industry
09:54and is committed to complying with all applicable regulations.
09:59Data from the USDA shows that prices ranchers get paid for cattle
10:03are generally rising faster than wholesale prices meatpackers charge.
10:07Still, wholesale prices are on the rise.
10:10And this time around, the Big Four's business partners are suing them as well.
10:15Companies like Target, BJ's Wholesale, and McDonald's
10:18say there's also collusion and price gouging on their side of the supply chain.
10:24This isn't just a legal drama.
10:26It's showing up in your lunch.
10:29High wholesale prices mean changes in retail, too.
10:34Our sort of house burger is a fried onion cheeseburger
10:38that is an authentic burger that was made in Oklahoma.
10:41Hamburger America opened in 2023 as an homage to the history of the hamburger.
10:46They were meant to be cheap. They were meant to be affordable.
10:49Burgers at this New York City joint start at $7.75,
10:5325 cents more than they cost last year.
10:56The restaurant says it's absorbing the rest of its increased expenses.
11:01Its wholesale beef costs are up by more than 20% since 2023.
11:06I mean, we're paying in this restaurant more than double what I started paying,
11:09you know, my first hamburger restaurant 17 years ago.
11:14Hamburger America sources its ground beef from Schweidenson's,
11:17a small family-owned ground beef processor in New Jersey.
11:21Schweidenson sources some of its beef from the Big Four,
11:24so even small businesses often rely on the larger system.
11:28We work very closely with our supplier to try to maintain the price as tight as we possibly can.
11:34They're under pressure also, and they have to pass along their costs.
11:37Andrew is focused on passing as little cost to the customer as possible.
11:41It's very important to us that the hamburger is affordable.
11:44And there are certain things Andrew says Hamburger America will never change.
11:49We won't change our quality. We won't change our sizes at all, you know, based upon rising costs.
11:54You know, we will not do that.
11:57The company's current strategy to avoid raising prices further is a simple one.
12:02We hope to do more business and bring more customers in so that, you know,
12:05at the end of the day, if we do more business, we can afford to sell it at a slightly
12:09lower margin.
12:10If beef prices continue to rise, Hamburger America will have to rethink its plan.
12:16Even in this restaurant since we opened in 2023, our beef prices are up over 20%.
12:20I mean, if it went up 30%, 40% every night, we might have to have a different conversation.
12:25There are a few things that could lower beef prices.
12:28The Big Four could face new regulations or demand could drop.
12:33But…
12:33For meaningful price relief, I think we need supply to increase or loosen.
12:39And for supply to increase, ranchers have to be able to afford expansion.
12:44Eric says to do so, one thing is crucial, more competition.
12:49We don't need government bailouts.
12:52We don't need more government crop insurance or some kind of new cattle insurance.
12:58We need to fix the market to put some producer confidence back in this game.
13:03The Meat Institute agrees that more cows is the answer.
13:07It told us that to get there, it supports increased access to foreign markets
13:11and easing of regulatory burdens for cattle producers.
13:14In a statement to Business Insider, a USDA spokesperson pointed to the agency's Beef Action Plan,
13:21an effort to rebuild herd sizes through things like expanding grazing on federal lands
13:25and reducing inspection fees for small processors.
13:29Eric says if nothing changes, independent American cattle ranchers might be a thing of the past.
13:35All these small towns you drove through to get here, they're drying up.
13:40The stores on Main Street are closing.
13:42And it's because our ag economy, Trump's first administration,
13:48the Ag Secretary said, well get big or get out.
13:51Sound familiar?
13:53You cannot consolidate a market without bad repercussions.
13:58And we're living it.
13:59The older generation is like, I can't do this.
14:03The younger generation is like, I'm not working that hard for no pay.
14:07My hope for the future is we give this next generation a chance to ranch and not be controlled.
14:43We'll give you some advice outside the residence.
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