For Immediate Release
Contact: R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard
February 19, 2026
Phone: 406-252-2516; r-calfusa@r-calfusa.com
Please find below R-CALF USA’s weekly opinion/commentary that explains how the non-disclosure of origin information on beef facilitates the global packers’ exercise of market power. It is in three formats: written, audio and video. Anyone is welcome to use it for broadcasting or reporting.
Replacing Monopoly Power with Competition
Commentary by Bill Bullard, CEO, R-CALF USA
Beef is the centerpiece of today’s consumer affordability discussion. The recent drought and the closure of the Mexican border are cited as the reasons domestic beef supplies are so low relative to incredibly strong beef demand.
But this is incorrect.
The recent drought and the border closure merely illuminated the decades-long, systemic deterioration of the U.S. cattle industry, rendering it incapable of withstanding even a moderate economic shock – such as a drought or border closure.
America was warned just over a decade ago that our industry had shrunk to a dangerously low level, and yet no meaningful reforms were implemented.
In 2010, a drought struck while our cowherd was already liquidating, and this accelerated the herd liquidation in the face of strong beef demand. By 2014, our cattle inventory had fallen to a 70-year low. From July 2010 through July 2015, the supply-demand imbalance sent consumer beef prices upward, increasing 52%, and cattle prices chased the rising beef prices, increasing 59% during this same period.
Also during this 2010-15 period, imports exploded, increasing by 47% and hitting a near-record high in 2015. But also during most of this entire period, mandatory country-of-origin labeling, or MCOOL, was in place for beef, including for ground beef sold at retail.
So let’s recap. About a decade ago, our herd shrank to a historical low, imports increased to near-record highs to make up the shortfall in domestic supplies, and both cattle prices and consumer beef prices increased to new record highs.
Now, we all know what happened next. Under the weight of those near-record imports, combined with the cattle industry’s highly concentrated market, something had to give. And what gave was neither consumer beef prices nor increasing imports.
No, it was cattle prices that gave in, and from 2015 through most of 2016, cattle prices fell farther and faster than at any time in history.
Congress repealed MCOOL at the end of 2015, and we then went through about five years in which beef prices and imports trended upward while cattle prices trended downward. During this multi-year period, while imports and beef prices trended upward but cattle prices trended downward, beef was no longer required to be labeled as to its origin, including ground beef.
During this approximate five-year period, the cattle market was dysfunctional and suffered market failure – a functional market simply would not generate low cattle prices and high beef prices over such an extended period of time.
There were three ominous factors at play during this period: First, the market was highly concentrated, with four firms controlling about 85% of the fed cattle market and about 80% of the boxed beef market. This level of market concentration is far in excess of levels known to elicit poor economic performance and anticompetitive behavior. Second, import volumes increased year over year beginning in 2016 until they reached an all-time record high in 2020. And third, neither packers nor retailers were required to inform consumers as to the country of origin of beef, including ground beef, that consumers purchased in their grocery stores. This means consumers had no say as to whether they wanted their beef produced domestically or in some foreign country – that decision as to where to source beef was left entirely to the packers.
This approximate five-year window provides us with two important lessons. The first lesson is that when increased imports pass through the same highly concentrated packers who already possess tremendous market power, those increased imports do not result in lower consumer beef prices, but they do correlate with lower cattle prices.
The second lesson is the most important one: Not having to disclose the origins of beef in the domestic market is among the primary means by which the packers and retailers can exploit their inherent market power. It relegates imported beef as a perfect substitute for domestic beef, and increasing the volume of those substitutes in the domestic market lessens the demand for U.S. cattle of all weights and ages.
So now you know why global beef packers and all their allies are fighting so hard to prevent Congress from reinstating mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef. It’s because MCOOL will remove from their arsenal a significant tool with which to continue controlling the U.S. cattle market and downstream beef market.
Enacting MCOOL in the farm bill will be a critically important step in replacing monopolistic power with competitive market forces.
Please call your members of Congress and tell them MCOOL must be included in the farm bill.
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R-CALF USA’s weekly opinion/commentary educates and informs both consumers and producers about timely issues important to the U.S. cattle and sheep industries and rural America.
Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund United Stockgrowers of America (R-CALF USA) is the largest producer-only trade association in the United States. It is a national, nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring the continued profitability and viability of the U.S. cattle and sheep industries. For more information, visit www.r-calfusa.com or call 406-252-2516.