TAYLORSVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- President Donald Trump's plans to import more Argentinean beef is getting mixed reaction from Kentucky farmers.
The new deal quadruples how much beef can be brought in from Argentina. Kentucky cattle farmers worry about the risks to their profits, cattle, and consumers.
"They finally got the cattle business where you could make money," cattle farmer Jonathan O'Dell said. "And now, here we go."
Jonathan O'Dell has hundreds of cows on his farms across Kentucky. It's his livelihood, and he said he's making a profit in 2025.
This comes as the beef industry is seeing record high prices.
"The cattle numbers that we have in the United States today are lower than they've ever been," O'Dell said. "That's why our cattle prices are so high."
President Trump plans to import more low-tariff beef from Argentina. He said the move should ease high beef prices and help local ranchers.
"They're great people," Trump said in a press conference Thursday. "But they've been hurt for 25, 30 years, they've been losing because other countries have taken advantage of them. And by putting tariffs on, they've been able to make a few dollars, they've been able to have an industry. But I also want to keep the beef prices low."
Now, he's facing mixed reaction from those very farmers. Some worry about added competition.
"These cattle have to provide us income, to pay for our land, to pay for our you know, put food on my table," O'Dell said.
"I think that trade is part of what helps agriculture and helps us with relations in other countries," Georgetown farmer Daniel Smith said.
The CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Colin Woodall, also said Argentina "has a history of foot-and-mouth disease, which if brought to the United States, could decimate our domestic livestock production."
"When we take our cattle to market, we are under a strict guidelines," O'Dell said. "There are USDA inspectors standing there."
It takes roughly two years for O'Dell's calves to make it to the dinner table. In that time, a lot of funding goes into food and care.
"There is a lot of sweat and tears and money that's went into that animal," O'Dell said. "American farmers put a lot of pride in what they put on your table.”
He hopes these changes don't impact his bottom line. O'Dell said he's a huge supporter of the president, but he believes this plan doesn't support local workers.
"We want to drill our own oil," O'Dell said. "We want to use our own corn and soybeans. Let’s use our own beef."
Trump's plan calls for Argentina to import roughly four times its current amount of beef to the states, but Smith said "it will still be a small amount of beef in the whole grand scheme of things."
University of Louisville Economics Department Chair José Fernández said the move could lead to some cheaper prices at grocery stores.
"We're not talking about your ribeyes or your high end steaks," Fernández said. "It would be your ground beefs, your skirt steaks, things like that."
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