Omaha Steaks President and CEO Nate Rempe weighs in on surging beef costs forward of the vacations, arguing that the U.S. must ‘rebuild the herd.’
America’s beef payments are set to maintain climbing, based on Omaha Steaks President and CEO Nate Rempe, who cautioned that the nation’s shrinking cattle provide and file demand are driving a “$10-a-pound reality” that might stretch household budgets for years.
“Look, domestically, we need to get our arms around it. Last time we got together, we talked about how the herd is at a 70-year low, demand is at an all-time high and the net result is prices are through the roof,” Rempe advised “Mornings with Maria” on Friday.
“We are headed for what I’m calling … the $10-a-pound reality. By [the] third quarter of ’26, families are gonna see $10 a pound [for] ground beef in the grocery store. So we’re in for a bit of a haul here,” he continued. “I don’t believe we’ll see price[s] come down in any meaningful way until sometime in 2027.”
“And it’s gonna be tough on families. I mean, that’s gonna be quite a shock.”
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Rempe’s feedback come on the identical day that the White Home introduced a number of commerce offers that might result in tariff reductions on sure items, like beef exports from Argentina. The framework for the take care of Argentina additionally contains decrease tariffs on Argentine beef imports, however doesn’t enhance america’ import quota.
Beef cattle in corrals at a ranch in Sonoita, Arizona, on Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (Getty Photographs)
One week in the past, President Donald Trump additionally introduced that he has directed the Division of Justice (DOJ) to launch an investigation into main meatpacking corporations, accusing them of driving up beef costs via “illicit collusion, price fixing and price manipulation.”
Beef costs are at a file excessive after a drought left cattle stock on the lowest degree in 70 years. In response to the most recent shopper value index information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, beef and veal costs rose 14.7% year-over-year in September, whereas raw floor beef was up 12.9%.
“There’s this concept in the industry called ‘heifer retention.’ And it’s a decision that the rancher and the feedlot operator make to hold back the female animal, to build the herd as opposed to send[ing] it to market,” Rempe defined. “Now, that’s a double-edged sword. We’ve started to see good signals that that’s happening, but that means that the supply is gonna continue to shrink as fewer cattle are going to market.”
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“I do think that foreign supply is part of the picture, but Argentinian beef only makes up about 2% of the total beef supply in America. So the domestic supply is a super critical component to keeping prices low,” he stated.
The historic market curve for the U.S. beef trade appears extra like “a roller coaster” than a clean hill, based on the CEO, who insisted that Omaha Steaks is doing its half “leveraging methods that allow us to take advantage of the market in a unique way.”
“We’ve got these big blast freezers. We can take advantage of the valley, take a large position, freeze that product, process it and build inventory and extend that to our customers,” Rempe stated.
Taking a shorter-term look forward to the nearing vacation season, Rempe famous how meat corporations can hedge in opposition to any points with technique.
‘The Big Weekend Show’ co-host Tomi Lahren says that the U.S. ought to import much less overseas beef and label worldwide imports on ‘The Bottom Line.’
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“We’re going to flex our muscle at Omaha Steaks, and we’re going [to] hold our primary gift packages at the same prices that we’ve had the last 48 months. And we’re gonna do that by looking internally, driving efficiencies into our business, leveraging our vertical integration,” he stated.
“So I think America needs to really look to companies that have interesting competitive advantages … I hope that we can continue to drive efficiency and productivity … But, you know, I have to ultimately buy beef to manufacture my product. So if that price hits an unsustainable level, I’m subject to the same challenges.”
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FOX Enterprise’ Rachel Wolf and Sophia Compton contributed to this report.
