Beef Imports Grow Exponentially

When I graduated from the University of Georgia's College of Agriculture in 1976, the USA was exporting most of the beef that we raise in this country. We imported almost none. That has situation has changed dramatically. Today, we import about half of the beef that we consume in this country. And that situation is quickly worsening:

Beef imports increased 18.0 percent year over year in 2025 and are up 61.4 percent since 2022.

Total beef production in 2025 was down 3.6 percent year over year and is down 8.1 percent since 2022. More importantly, relative to beef imports, production of nonfed beef (from cull cows and bulls) was down 8.0 percent last year and is down 24.8 percent since 2022. In fact, nonfed beef production in 2025 was the smallest total since 2005.

Since 2022-

Australia has been the largest source of beef imports (up 251.1 percent since 2022);

Canada is number two (up 4.3 percent);

Brazil is number three (up 99.9 percent);

Mexico, number four (down 4.0 percent);

New Zealand is number five (up 37.2 percent);

Uruguay, number six (up 158.8 percent);

Several smaller sources contributed another nine percent to total beef imports in 2025 (up 79.3 percent since 2022)