A look at the stories shaping rural America and the nation’s cattle business.
Meatpacking Politics: “All Bets Are Off”
In case you missed it, Oklahoma State University agricultural economist Derrell Peel recently warned in BEEF magazine that “all bets are off” when it comes to current political proposals targeting the U.S. meatpacking sector. Peel argues that the investigations and rhetoric surrounding packer behavior could harm cattle producers, beef consumers, and the entire beef supply chain for years to come.
According to Peel, policymakers are using “logic that only works in the office of a politician,” alleging packers have too much market power even as they pay record-high cattle prices—while simultaneously losing hundreds of dollars per head processed.
“If beef packers had any significant ability to exercise market power, I am certain we would not have record-high cattle prices and packers would not be losing money,” he wrote.
Peel also noted the Trump administration appears eager to find a scapegoat, especially as tight cattle supplies will likely keep beef prices elevated for the next two to four years. He cautioned that any attempt to dismantle or heavily regulate the packing industry could jeopardize current record-high cattle prices and undermine the best margins many producers have ever seen.
The Sierra Club’s Fall from Grace
A recent New York Times investigation highlights what it calls the “implosion” of the once-influential Sierra Club—long regarded as a leading anti-agriculture environmental organization. Surprisingly, the reporters suggest the group’s decline has less to do with environmental priorities and more to do with internal turmoil stemming from cultural and political debates.
The shift reportedly began as leadership began emphasizing racial equity, labor rights, LGBTQ+ issues, and immigrant rights. At one point the club issued an “equity language guide” warning staff not to use words such as vibrant or hardworking, deeming them racially insensitive.
The Sierra Club also supported calls to defund the police and began pushing for slavery reparations. It even condemned its own founder, John Muir, for racist language used in his 1860s writings.
As a result, long-time donors and conservation-minded supporters are walking away, concerned that the organization has drifted far from its original mission of protecting the environment. Some longtime volunteers say they were reprimanded for championing traditional causes such as wolf recovery, only to be told, “Wolves have little to do with DEI.”
According to the NYT, there is little evidence the Sierra Club will return to its ecological roots anytime soon.
Brazil, Deforestation, and JBS Under Scrutiny
Environmental watchdog groups continue to target Brazil’s cattle sector for alleged links between beef production and Amazon deforestation—and JBS SA is at the center of the debate.
Though the connection between deforestation and cattle production is widely cited, concrete proof across the supply chain remains hard to pin down. JBS is attempting to improve traceability by distributing millions of electronic identification (EID) tags designed to verify that cattle are not coming from prohibited areas.
However, Marcel Gomes of Repórter Brasil argues that “cattle laundering”—moving animals through multiple farms across several states—makes traceability extremely difficult and, in many cases, “practically impossible.”
Even as scrutiny intensifies, JBS continues to expand globally. Following Brazilian President Lula’s visit to Vietnam, the company announced a US$100 million investment for two new meat-processing facilities there, using imports from Brazil. This comes after earlier plans to invest US$2.5 billion in six new meatpacking plants in Nigeria, plus major expansions in Saudi Arabia’s poultry sector.
Crossbreeding Still Counts
The late cattle industry voice Jim Leachman used to hold up a rail worker’s oil can and declare, “Crossbreeding is the oil that drives the cattle business.”
New research from the North American Limousin Research Foundation (NALRF), conducted with South Dakota State University, reinforces that message. The study evaluated growth performance, feed efficiency, and carcass traits under three harvest endpoints.
Key findings include:
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Crossbreeding remains one of the most effective strategies for boosting production efficiency through heterosis and breed complementarity.
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Feeding-sector profitability hinges on balancing input costs with carcass value.
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Retail yield improves by selecting more muscular animals—including Limousin-influenced genetics.
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As cattle mature physiologically, deposition shifts from lean tissue to fat.
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Longer days on feed—and higher proportions of Limousin genetics—tended to increase profit potential.
Market Uncertainty and Political Influence
BEEF contributor Trey Freeman of Ever.Ag warns that President Trump’s involvement in high beef prices and supply issues is beginning to distort cattle market psychology. While fundamental supply-and-demand factors will drive long-term trends, short-term markets—particularly futures—are highly sensitive to uncertainty.
Freeman points to several factors fueling volatility:
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Potential Argentine beef imports
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The possibility of relaxed tariffs on Brazilian beef
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Prospects for reopening the U.S.–Mexico cattle border
He argues that while analysts can estimate how these factors will affect supply, the deeper issue is that “managed money doesn’t want any part of the uncertainty driven by politics.”
The result? Few traders are willing to go long until the dust settles. In the near term, money flow and technical patterns may overshadow fundamentals—but fundamentals will ultimately prevail.
