BS BULLETIN:

• Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins acknowledged that beef remains expensive despite saying prices have recently begun moving in the right direction.
• Her advice if steak still costs too much: “You can eat chicken, pork, salmon, eggs.”
• Rollins says rebuilding America’s depleted cattle herd will take years and promised “cheaper beef” is coming.

Can’t afford the steak?

The secretary of agriculture has some alternatives.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins was pressed about stubbornly high beef prices Monday during an appearance on Benny Johnson’s “The Benny Show.”

Johnson didn’t exactly ease into it.

“Nobody likes these expensive steaks that cost $20 a pound,” he told Rollins. “So, like gas prices and steak prices, no good. What are we going to do about American beef?”

Rollins said prices are beginning to move in the right direction and argued that beef increased nearly 30 percent during the Biden administration.

But she also acknowledged the obvious problem for families standing in the meat aisle right now.

“If it is too expensive, unlike fuel, Benny, you can eat chicken, pork, salmon, eggs,” Rollins said. “There are other sources of really good protein, and all of those prices are going down.”

Rollins said the administration understands grocery prices remain too high and is working to bring them down.

She also pointed to a much harder problem that can’t be fixed overnight: There simply aren’t enough cattle.

America’s cattle inventory has fallen to its lowest level in decades after years of drought, high operating costs and producers shrinking their herds. And rebuilding that supply takes time.

“A mama cow is born, right? It takes her two years to get to the point where she can reproduce,” Rollins explained. “She grows a calf. It takes two more years to get that calf to slaughter. It just takes a long time to rebuild the herd.”

That’s the same supply crunch The Daily BS examined last month when ranchers described the cattle business as “hell”.

President Donald Trump has tried several approaches to the problem.

Last month, the administration temporarily opened the door to hundreds of thousands of additional metric tons of imported ground beef without the usual out-of-quota tariff in an effort to push consumer prices lower.

As The Daily BS reported at the time, that move generated significant pushback from American cattle producers who worried cheaper imports could hurt ranchers precisely when they’re being encouraged to rebuild their herds.

The administration has also pushed expanded meat-processing options and other measures intended to increase domestic supply.

Rollins said demand remains exceptionally strong even with elevated prices, and she promised relief is coming.

“Coming to you soon, cheaper beef, even better beef,” she said. “America does it better than anywhere in the world.”

Until then, apparently, there’s chicken.

DBS WIRE SOURCES

• Mediaite — Brooke Rollins on pricey beef: Eat chicken, pork, salmon or eggs
• Daily Caller — Rollins tells Americans to find protein alternatives as beef prices soar
• Audacy — Agriculture secretary says beef too expensive? Eat chicken
• The Daily BS — Ranchers say beef market has ‘been hell’ as Trump announces plan to try and help
• The Daily BS — Trump pauses tariff on imported beef amid pushback from ranchers