Cattle Industry Stability Threatened by Import Plan

The US cattle industry is facing concerns about stability as the government considers importing more beef. According to Kent Bacus, Director of Government Affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, while there have been some declines in the industry, the rates are slower than previous years and timely rains across the country have helped.

Bacus warns that the President's plan to import 300,000 metric tons of tariff-free beef could undermine the domestic cattle industry. He believes that consumer demand for American-produced beef should be met by US producers, not imported beef. Bacus is concerned about the message sent to US cattle farmers if the administration 'doubles down' on imports.

In other agricultural news, corn use for ethanol production rose 4% in July compared to the same month last year. The USDA reports that ethanol plants used 474.7 million bushels of corn, up 2% from June.