The government has many levers at its disposal and sometimes it is does a great job and other times it is government tax dollars wasted. Sometimes political actions are essentially wasting government tax dollars, because the market has better and realistic ideas.

In an article by John Hanna and Sarah Raza of the Associated Press, the US is reopening a border crossing in Arizona to cattle from Mexico as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reduce record-high beef prices, through economists doubt the move will mean to grocery store shoppers. Over time, it hopes to reopen other crossings in New Mexico and Texas.

Beef prices clearly are a concern for the President Trump who announced he would allow up to 300,000 tons of imported ground beef into the US tariff-free, to be sold at below-market prices over the next 90 days. (midterm elections are in 90 days). In February, the White House said closing the border to livestock imports from Mexico more than a year ago was essential to containing the screwworm virus.

Derrell Peel, a professor of agribusiness at Oklahoma State University, Beef has been singled out because it is an expensive product and because it just high profile.

Previously, Mexico has traditionally provided 1.1 milllion head, or about 3% of the US cattle supply.

Mr. Peel said he does not expect any measurable impact on cattle prices or beef prices soon as 300,000 tons of beef is about 2% of domestic beef consumption according to the US Department of Agriculture data.

On January 1, the US cattle herd had dropped to 86.2 million head, the lowest figure in 75 years. Beef prices skyrocketed over the past 5 years, rising significantly faster than food food prices as a whole, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Since July 2021 to July 2026, beef prices have risen 57%. Food prices are up 25%.

Glen Tonsor, a professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University, believes the potential effect on beef prices from the smaller supply of cattle was lessened because the US beef industry is more efficient and has been able to get more meat from each animal than in past years.

Drought in cattle-producing regions on the US is a major reason the national herd is so small, according to David Anderson, professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M University. If grass does not grow, cattle have nothing to graze upon forcing ranchers to sell them off. Low cattle prices over the past 2 decades are also a factor.

The shortage of cattle also has left beef processing plants operating below capacity. Tyson Foods closed a plant in Lexington, Nebraska. Tyson Foods also announced plans to close a plant near Salt Lake City, Utah and in Illinois.

JBS USA closed a plant in Memphis, Tennessee and lower the number of people at a plant outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Professor Peel believes it takes years to rebuild the US herd, which means prices will remain high for some time.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in some industries the government is very helpful, for others for political reasons or potential outcomes the government is better to do less. Governments eventually pass and markets run the business cycles. Hopefully for your investments, the government is more of a help than hinderance.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.