When Washington makes a decision that negatively affects Wisconsin farmers, our elected representatives must speak up, even when that means disagreeing with their own party or the president. That is exactly what Congressman and Republican candidate for Wisconsin governor Tom Tiffany is doing in the growing debate over President Donald Trump’s plan to temporarily flood the market with imports of foreign ground beef.
President Trump announced a plan to allow up to 300,000 metric tons of foreign ground beef into the United States over 90 days, with reduced tariffs and a commitment that imported beef would be sold at a significant discount. The administration says the move is intended to lower grocery prices while giving America’s cattle herd time to rebuild. But cattle producers immediately pushed back, as they should.
Tom Tiffany grew up on a dairy farm in western Wisconsin, milking cows and feeding calves at sunrise. He knows cattlemen cannot rebuild a herd on a 90-day timeline. Tiffany is helping lead the charge to fix this haphazard policy.
American cattlemen are facing a 75-year low in their herd population, while simultaneously navigating an ever-growing demand for beef, particularly in fast-food, chain restaurants and cheap eats. Unlike poultry (weeks) or hogs (months), the beef-cattle cycle requires years. In order to inch closer to market equilibrium, it will require a massive increase in American herd size, which takes years in the cradle to grave life cycle; in other words, breeding a heifer to the time their offspring are ready for slaughter.
They cannot simply produce more animals because Washington wants lower prices. Ranchers need confidence in the market to justify the enormous capital investment required to rebuild their herds, and flooding the market with cheap, low quality foreign beef does the exact opposite.
In order to rebuild a herd, a rancher will decide to retain a heifer instead of selling her for beef, and that heifer is bred at roughly 14-15 months of age. If successful, she calves at about 2 years later. Then her calf is typically weaned 6-8 months later. That calf then requires another 18-24 months to reach slaughter weight. In total, this process takes years to bring the heifer to market.
According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, 300,000 metric tons represents more than 600 million pounds of beef entering the U.S. market in just 90 days, which is a significant amount. This dropped the beef price 40 cents overnight, which hit the ranchers immediately, but prices at the grocery store barely budged. Tiffany understands what is at stake, and that matters a great deal to Wisconsin farmers.
There is an unfortunate tendency in modern politics to treat disagreement within a political party as disloyalty. Hardly. A representative’s first responsibility is to the people he or she represents. Wisconsin’s livestock and meat industries are a critical part of the economic foundation of rural communities, supporting tens of thousands of jobs and businesses far beyond the farm itself. When cattle prices fall, the consequences ripple through feed suppliers, veterinarians, equipment dealers, truckers, processors, auction barns, etc. That is why Tiffany’s willingness to put Wisconsin agriculture at the center of this debate deserves attention.
Supporting Trump Doesn’t Mean Supporting Every Policy
Tiffany has been a strong supporter of the America First agenda, but supporting a president does not mean surrendering independent judgment. In fact, conservatives should expect the opposite of their elected leaders.
Making beef more affordable for working families is a laudable goal, but so is the goal of rebuilding America’s cattle herd. The question is whether temporarily depressing the market for American cattle producers actually accomplishes both. That is where the disagreement begins. Reuters reported that cattle futures fell sharply following Trump’s announcement, reflecting concerns that the increased imports could undermine domestic producers and make herd rebuilding more difficult. That should concern anyone who genuinely wants to see American agriculture become stronger.
A nation that cannot reliably feed itself becomes dependent on other nations for its food, which is something far more important than another cheap consumer product from mainland China. Food security is a core pillar of national security. Access to safe food and a stable food supply is just as critical to our nation as military defense. America First means American Farmers First.
Washington must remove unnecessary barriers and regulations, encourage investment, and strengthen domestic processing. If necessary, invoke national security provisions from corresponding laws in order to cut red tape, eliminate regulations and make it easier for the next generation to take over the family farm. Then get out of the way and let the market work.
Tom Tiffany’s position is worth defending. He’s not arguing against affordable food. He’s arguing that American farmers should not be sacrificed in the name of a short-term solution to a long-term supply problem. And that is a true conservative argument. It is also a Wisconsin argument, and one that President Trump and Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins should listen to immediately. There’s no question this issue will show up at the ballot box this November. We need to make food affordable again while strengthening our food production and supply chain here at home. Period.
