Why U.S. cattle ranchers say Trump's Argentine beef import talk is no solution to domestic food supply threat

Cattle ranchers successful Texas and astir the state are acrophobic that the screwworm, a parasitic alert that was erstwhile eradicated successful the U.S., is threatening a comeback from the Mexican borderline and recent speech from President Trump astir importing beef from Argentina is nary semipermanent solution for a beef proviso concatenation already nether accent oregon consumers who person watched beef prices deed grounds levels.

The New World screwworm is simply a parasitic alert that lays eggs successful the unfastened wounds of warm-blooded animals. The larvae past hatches from the eggs and burrows into insubstantial of animals to provender connected them. If caught early, the sick carnal tin beryllium treated and survive. Human cases are uncommon but tin beryllium achy and necessitate aesculapian attention. In August, the the U.S. Department of Agriculture said successful a statement the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identified a lawsuit of the flesh-eating parasite successful a idiosyncratic successful Maryland who returned to the U.S. aft traveling to El Salvador.

The New World screwworm was successfully eradicated from the United States successful 1966. But the Maryland lawsuit and different caller appearances successful Mexico person cattle ranchers successful Texas and astir the state connected edge. Mexico's National Service of Agro-Alimentary Health, Safety, and Quality confirmed connected October 6 different lawsuit of the flesh-eating screwworm parasite successful Nuevo Leon, a metropolis that borders the U.S. It marked the country's 2nd confirmed lawsuit successful astir 2 weeks.

"Texas is simply a worldly contributor to the beef industry," said Andrew Coppin, co-founder and CEO of ranch absorption institution Ranchbot Monitoring Solutions. "You person millions of beef cattle on the confederate borderline alone."

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has closed the borderline to Mexico for imports of unrecorded cattle, bison, and horses, connected and off, since 2024 owed to the dispersed of the New World screwworm. The borderline is presently closed. Before the closure, Mexico was an exporter of calves to the U.S., with USDA information showing the U.S. imported over 1 million cattle annually, astir 3.3% of the U.S. full calf crop.

Sixth-generation Texas rancher James Clement III tells CNBC the cardinal to eradicating the screwworm menace is years out. To combat the dispersed of the flies, the USDA disperses sterile flies into the country to halt the mating, a technological method known arsenic sterile insect method (SIT). It was the crushed for the palmy eradication of the flies successful the U.S. But Clement said the flies utilized antecedently were brought successful from Panama and portion the USDA has said it is committed to processing a home sterile alert accumulation facility, "that is astatine slightest 2 oregon 3 years away. By past it volition beryllium excessively small to late," helium said.

The USDA did not respond to a petition for comment.

Clement, whose household concern has operated aggregate ranches implicit the past 400 years, said American ranching has evolved and has go much efficient. While this is bully for production, successful times of threats similar biohazards specified arsenic screwworm, it is simply a challenge.

"We necessitate little labour present truthful it would beryllium hard and challenging to observe an infected cattle," helium said. "We don't person the radical to cheque each caput of cattle daily. Most of this cattle are escaped scope and the writer pastures are large."

The USDA, alongside Mexico, has been monitoring astir 8,000 traps crossed Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico since July. More than 13,000 screening samples person been submitted, with nary NWS flies detected.

But Clement says, "this is spreading quickly. A twelvemonth ago, screwworm was already successful confederate Mexico, past it dispersed into cardinal and bluish Mexico. Now it is happening conscionable southbound of our border. It's not a substance of if screwworm spreads to the U.S., it's when."

Clement said the concern is adding to the supply-demand imbalance successful the cattle manufacture which has already accrued owed to drought. Beef prices have climbed to grounds highs aft cattle ranchers slashed their herds owed to dried-up lands utilized for grazing. Feed costs roseate arsenic a result.

The terms of unrecorded cattle futures implicit the past year.

According to authorities data, arsenic of July 2025, the U.S. cattle herd is approximately 94.2 cardinal head, the lowest inventory since 1951.

Coppin tells CNBC the cardinal constituent to expanding herd size is water.

"Typically, ranches person thousands of acres and cattle," Coppin said. "Less grasslands arsenic a effect of little h2o equals smaller herds."

He estimated 30% of the U.S. is inactive successful drought conditions.

"The question ranchers are asking themselves is, volition I person capable provender to provender my herd?  This is wherefore grasslands are important. Feed is simply a large input outgo that eats into the borderline of ranchers," helium said.

Coppin said portion the importing of beef from Argentina whitethorn little the outgo of beef for consumers (futures had dropped sharply aft Trump's comments but person since trended up again), for ranchers facing drought and screwworm, the incentives to expanding herd size are dwindling.

"Ranchers don't privation their merchandise to beryllium substituted," Coppin said.

Recently, immoderate U.S. ranchers person begun taking steps to commencement rebuilding herds. However, ranchers and beef proviso concatenation experts similar Coppin accidental it takes astir 2 years before beef output rises due to the fact that it takes clip to rise full-grown cattle.

The National Cattlemen's Beef Association said successful statement connected Monday aft President Trump floated his thought to import beef from Argentina implicit the play that it was urging President Trump and Congress to let the marketplace to enactment alternatively intervene and harm agrarian America.

"This program lone creates chaos astatine a captious clip of the twelvemonth for American cattle producers, portion doing thing to little market store prices," said Colin Woodall, CEO of NCBA.

The NCBA besides cited Argentina's "deeply unbalanced commercialized relationship" with the U.S. In the past 5 years, Argentina has sold much than $801 cardinal of beef into the U.S. market. By comparison, the U.S. has sold conscionable implicit $7 cardinal worthy of American beef to Argentina, according to NCBA data. It noted Argentina besides has a past of foot-and-mouth disease, which if brought to the United States, could decimate home livestock production.

Clement said having the authorities measurement successful and effort to modulate the markets is not what the U.S. should beryllium focused on.

"The marketplace volition instrumentality attraction of itself," Clement said. "We request the authorities preventing and stamping retired screwworm. Then we tin enlistee the adjacent procreation saying, 'ranching is simply a assemblage that you tin bash to instrumentality attraction of your family, and person a bully prime of life. The authorities volition look aft america done biosecurity and the prevention of carnal disease. Not manipulating the markets.'"