USDA plan to rebuild beef herd will not include producer payments, says farm secretary

Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Division of Agriculture is growing a plan to revitalize the decimated U.S. beef herd, however won’t provide funds to producers, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins stated on Thursday.

The U.S. cattle stock is the lowest since 1951, in line with authorities knowledge, shrunk by years-long drought that dried up pasture land. Ranchers have slowly begun to rebuild the herd, however beef costs are at file highs.

The USDA is engaged on short- and long-term options to the issue and can present extra particulars in mid-October, Rollins stated on the Ag Outlook Discussion board in Kansas Metropolis, Missouri.

“We’ve got no present plans to supply any fee to beef producers. We see how the federal government getting concerned can fully distort the markets. And so presently there will probably be no plan, no plan is even into account, to insert ourselves via funds into the meat cattle business.”

As a substitute, the plans will deal with opening up extra working lands and increasing risk-mitigation instruments, Rollins stated.