Will beef prices come down? Texas Ag Commissioner weighs in

DALLAS - According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, beef and veal prices rose nearly 15% from this time last year. 

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller believes it will take several years for things to get better.

Beef Prices

FILE - Organic ground beef from the supermarket is pictured in a file image dated Oct. 30, 2020. (Photo by Daniel Karmann/picture alliance via Getty Images)

What we know:

Federal officials have rejected recent claims from the Omaha Steak CEO, who said Americans could soon face paying $10 per pound of beef at the grocery store.

While prices may not be that high now, there is a problem.

Miller said the beef problem is different from the egg price issue, which was tied to Avian flu. That’s because eggs can be produced more frequently. The supply can be replenished more quickly.

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What they're saying:

Miller thinks beef prices won’t truly drop until 2027.

"We have the lowest cattle numbers we've had in 75 years. So, it's a lack of supply. Supply and demand is what's causing it. And we just don't have enough beef. Very simple problem. But it's complicated to solve because it takes a while to regrow a beef herd," he said.

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Miller somewhat advocates for Agriculture Commissioner Brooke Rollins’ idea to allocate more federal land for grazing herds. It won’t help immediately, but it’ll help in the long term.

He said the idea was in response to messages he sent to President Donald Trump regarding importing beef from Argentina. 

"I said, ‘Well, that’s, you know, that’s not gonna solve the long-range problem.’ Importing beef in a box doesn’t help rebuild our cattle herd. I said so one of my suggestions was let’s open up federal grazing lands so we’ll have a place to put our cows in time of drought. We can retain heifers and make more mama cows and regrow the national herd. So they actually did that," he said.

The other side:

It’s also important to note that the president is siding with cattle ranchers on the price issue while accusing the meatpacking industry of driving up costs through collusion and price manipulation, a claim the industry denies.