The cost of beef is significantly rising as we approach the summer barbecue season. Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that grilled sirloin now averages over $14 per pound, reflecting a 20 percent increase compared to last year.
This May, President Trump considered reducing tariffs on beef imports from certain countries, such as Argentina, as a means to lower prices. Yet, these measures alone are insufficient to resolve the underlying issue: a concentrated meat industry that has dominated the supply chain for nearly a century. In 2025, over 45 percent of U.S. cattle were processed in just 11 facilities, and as of 2024, the top four meatpacking companies controlled 80 to 85 percent of beef sales.
In a recent move, Senator Chuck Schumer introduced legislation aimed at breaking up these dominant firms, which include JBS, Tyson Foods, Cargill, and National Beef. Although the Trump administration has generally avoided regulating large corporations, it has launched investigations into beef and egg processors for potential antitrust breaches linked to price hikes during the avian flu.
These investigations depend on regulators taking decisive legal steps based on their findings.
Schumer’s proposal offers a structural solution with potential bipartisan approval. Such initiatives have been lacking in addressing the broad consolidation in the American food industry.
Currently, consolidation characterizes the U.S. food system, leading to exploitation and vulnerability. In 2020, two companies accounted for half of fresh bread sales; by 2022, two firms controlled approximately two-thirds of the baby formula market, and two companies were responsible for 60 percent of carrot production in 2023. As a result, food prices have continued to climb, even after increasing by nearly 30 percent from 2019 to 2025. Companies have exploited pandemic-induced supply chain issues to elevate prices and maximize profits.
Such concentration didn’t occur by chance. It resulted from decades of lax enforcement of anti-merger laws established in 1890. From the Reagan era onwards, regulators from both parties have mostly ignored corporate mergers, relying on a belief akin to Wall Street’s that mergers lead to efficiencies and lower consumer prices.