Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins joins “Mornings with Maria” to discuss soaring meat prices, stalled Chinese soy deals and the massive SNAP fraud crackdown rocking Washington.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins pushed back against predictions that Americans could soon pay $10 a pound for beef, telling FOX Business that the Trump administration’s plan to expand grazing and reopen major livestock ports should bring prices down by next summer — and keep them low through 2026.
“The Trump administration has released a new plan. We’re moving toward opening five million acres of pastureland,” the USDA’s Rollins said Monday on “Mornings with Maria.” “And the president is hyper, hyper focused on this. So our numbers and our formulas show that prices will start to come down as early as next spring, and certainly by the summer and fall of next year.”
On Friday, Omaha Steaks CEO Nate Rempe said the nation’s dwindling livestock supply and record demand is generating a “$10-a-pound reality” that could strain family budgets for years.
“We’re heading toward what I call…the reality of $10 a pound. [the] third quarter 2026, families will receive $10 per pound [for] ground beef at the grocery store. So we’re going to have a little bit of trouble here,” Rempe said. “I don’t think we’ll see the prices[s] decrease significantly until 2027.”
OMAHA STEAKS CEO WARNS AMERICAN FAMILIES WILL SOON FACE A “$10 A POUND REALITY” FOR BEEF
Beef prices have reached record highs after a drought left the U.S. cattle herd at its lowest level in 70 years. According to the latest Consumer Price Index data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for beef and veal increased 14.7% year-over-year in September, while prices for uncooked ground beef increased 12.9%.
Packages of meat are seen at a supermarket in Houston, Texas on May 15, 2025. (Getty Images)
The latest September 2025 figures from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis indicate that the average price of a pound of beef in the United States is $6.30.
“He was very well expressed. I don’t think his predictions will be correct though,” Rollins responded. “But the idea that we won’t bring prices down until 2027, I think there are some important factors here.”
“We are suffering from the literal war on livestock waged by the last administration. If you remember, they wanted to reduce herd sizes because they believed livestock were causing climate change,” she began to explain. “The second thing is there’s no question, because of the drought…that our herd sizes are low. Now you couple that with the fact that we have an 8% increase in demand for protein and beef in the market. People want more beef.”
Omaha Steaks President and CEO Nate Rempe weighs in on soaring beef prices as the holidays approach, saying the U.S. needs to “rebuild the herd.”
“And again, you’re in this perfect storm that we find ourselves in.”
The Trump administration announced several new trade deals Friday that could lead to tariff reductions on certain products, including beef exports from Argentina. The framework for a deal with Argentina also includes lower tariffs on Argentine beef imports, but does not increase the U.S. import quota, FOX Business previously reported.
Rep. Troy Downing, R-Mont., also joined “Mornings with Maria” Monday, where he discussed high beef prices and expressed support for the White House’s rapid response measures.
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Congressman Troy Downing, R-Mont., joined “Mornings with Maria” to discuss the economic consequences of the shutdown, record beef prices and the president’s $2,000 relief plan amid growing fears of inflation and rising debt.
“One of my concerns, coming from a beef-producing state, is if beef prices get high enough that people start looking for alternative proteins, which would be bad for my district,” Downing said. “We really need to focus on regenerating the American herd.”
“I think these are short-term solutions to try to achieve the real goal: How do we regrow the American herd? How do we make sure that our farmers and our ranchers are doing what they can to be successful? Because we don’t want to put them at a disadvantage, but we have to be very careful that we don’t get to $10 or more. [for] ground beef, because at that point, families on a budget are going to stop buying beef…and it will be very difficult for the industry to recover. »
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