Challenges Facing the American Beef Industry Today

Introduction: Beef and American Identity

Beef is a commodity that has literally defined the American West and, by extension, American ideology for generations. Yet today, as PBS Frontline's reporting on industrial meat makes clear, "in the meat industry — beef — you have four [processors] that control over 80% of the marketplace… it's become much, much more concentrated" (Glickman, 2014). Cattle ranchers are under increasing pressure to produce more beef at lower cost. At the same time, the industry faces sharp criticism for being insufficiently concerned about its effects on human health. Quite simply, the industry cannot survive the dual demands for inexpensive food in America while simultaneously meeting growing concerns for greater safety and naturalness in beef handling.

Industrial Consolidation and Small Rancher Pressures

The farm business model is growing increasingly unsustainable internationally. In Canada, for example, "most Canadian farmers still rely on government payments to make ends meet. The figures are telling… 70 per cent of all government spending on agriculture goes toward so-called 'business risk management' initiatives, which are essentially income support payments. And the bulk of those payments go to farms many experts say are too small to compete internationally" (Waldie, 2012). As documented in the CBC film Broken Harvest, families that have farmed for generations are seeing their lives disrupted as they cannot compete with subsidized agriculture in the United States.

In the U.S., the situation is somewhat different. Although many commodities are subsidized, this does not mean all producers — particularly small producers — benefit equally. Small cattle ranches do not. A handful of very large meat processors wield considerable political influence in Washington, D.C., and small ranchers effectively have their terms dictated to them by those dominant players. As a result, small producers have resorted to practices such as speeding feedlot-to-table transport, with dubious consequences for human health.

Food Safety Risks in Industrial Beef Production

There is a strong economic incentive to accelerate the trajectory from feedlot to table for calves. The faster calves are produced, the less time they spend grazing, and the more swiftly they reach market, the greater the profit for the rancher and processor. However, this acceleration carries serious public health risks. "More and more animals are raised on a single farm… This gives the opportunity for pathogens to spread from one animal to another. And when they are transported to slaughter, animals from many different farms may go in the same truck or the same transport to the slaughterhouse. Again, there's the opportunity for the exchange of these bacteria" (Taxue, 2014).

Cows are routinely given antibiotics both to prevent the spread of infection and to enable them to digest grain earlier than their natural developmental trajectory would allow. This practice has significant downstream consequences: "as the line speeds and the general efficiency of the slaughter plants increase, there may also be a greater opportunity for contamination to spread from one carcass to another… the industrialization of our meat supply opened up a conduit for salmonella, for campylobacter, and for E. coli O157 infections to pass through to the consumer" (Taxue, 2014). Furthermore, the widespread use of antibiotics on both healthy and unhealthy animals has contributed to the rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a growing global public health concern. As one expert observed, "I suspect there are hundreds or even thousands of animals that have contributed to a single hamburger" (Taxue, 2014).

Conclusion: An Industry at a Crossroads

Many consumers are simply eating less beef and shifting to other sources of protein, such as chicken, pork, fish, and dairy. Combined with the increased cost of land, challenges remain on the horizon for the beef industry with few signs of abating. The shift to small farms and grass-fed beef can, at best, address only a tiny fraction of overall demand — serving consumers willing to pay premium prices for food. While the dynamics of beef production are more complicated than those of many other commodities, small beef producers are ultimately struggling under the monopoly power of larger processors. The industry as a whole is under threat from rising production costs, declining consumer demand, and unresolved environmental and public health concerns.