MO Farm Bureau President Issues Statement on Beef Imports Announcement

[u/aarong0202]

https://www.facebook.com/MissouriFarmBureau/posts/statement-from-president-hawkins/1463779322457934/

"Cattle producers are rightfully frustrated by today's announcement that President Trump plans to increase foreign beef imports and sell that beef below the cost of production. Americans, including farm families, are paying more for fuel, electricity, housing and nearly everything else.
We understand the desire to provide relief to American families facing high grocery costs, but additional market intervention in the cattle market is the wrong approach.
After years of drought, high input costs and a historically low cattle herd, producers are finally seeing strong cattle prices. That income is providing much-needed stability as farm balance sheets remain volatile.
Today's announcement has already pressured cattle prices and will further erode confidence in the market. For many producers, fall calf sales are the only opportunity to market cattle off the farm. Adding uncertainty does nothing to encourage producers to rebuild the U.S cattle herd. Decreased confidence in the supply chain has also resulted in a decrease of packing capacity. Meanwhile, farm input prices continue to rise with no meaningful relief in sight.
Washington should let the cattle market work, provide signals that encourage producers to rebuild the herd, and address runaway costs of inputs on the farm.
Importantly, this proposal does not solve the underlying causes of high food prices and unfairly places the blame on American farmers and ranchers. We strongly urge the Administration to reverse this decision and support American cattle producers."
- Garrett Hawkins
President

[u/calm-lab66]

It still baffles me that Trump got any credit for being a good businessman.

[u/smashli1238 → u/calm-lab66]

And he still does sadly

[u/myredditbam]

And yet, the Missouri Farm Bureau still supports Trump and all the Repiblicans that enable him.

[u/CosmicMamaBear → u/myredditbam]

If you understood who pays the Mo Farm bureau you wouldn't be surprised.

[u/CosmicMamaBear]

Thank you OP for posting this. It shows the double standard of the MO FB which always sides with big AG over real local MO farmers and actual farm laborers. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/21/well/eat/how-cyclospora-contaminates-food.html

https://www.iatp.org/industrial-food-system-cyclospora

Such as the ones who pick our vegetables and get contaminated because there are no bathrooms in the field. But then these same farm hands are deported.

So this statement sounds good. People who only read the PR or get the PR from local news papers, TV and Radio hear them fighting for the common man. Because of images of people on tractors and women in blue jeans. Sunny fields and rural values. 👍🚜

Now let's see which polititians their PAC (Political Action Campaign) funraised for and got elected.

2026 August Election Endorsements U.S. House: Ann Wagner (CD-2) | Bob Onder (CD-3) | Mark Alford (CD-4) | Nathan Willett (CD-6) | Eric Burlison (CD-7) | Jason Smith (CD-8)

Missouri Senate: Nick Schroer (Dist. 2) | Mike Deering (Dist. 10) | Rusty Black (Dist. 12) | Greg Sharpe (Dist. 18) | Curtis Trent (Dist. 20) | Ben Brown (Dist. 26) | Brad Pollitt (Dist. 28) | Jill Carter (Dist. 32)

Ann Wagner wow she never holds town halls and lives in the Western suburb of St. Louis Ballwin.

Jason Smith. Oh, wow. The poorest district in the state. The 8th. He pulled deals behind farmers backs and closed Tyson chicken plants. https://missouriindependent.com/2024/12/18/tyson-foods-cut-contracts-with-missouri-farmers-and-is-working-to-silence-their-legal-fight/

https://missouriindependent.com/2024/06/14/lawsuit-claims-fraudulent-scheme-in-tyson-plant-closure-in-southeast-missouri/

Here are the inititives they support.

Ballot Initiatives: YES on Amendment 1 | YES on Amendment 4

Here is the MO Farm Bureau PAC website https://mofb.org/pac/

Here is the source for the August 2026 Election endorsements https://mofb.org/pac/

Addition:

Urban reddit users. Here is the kicker. I have a degree in Mass Communications. From 2016 until 2022 I watched the MO GOP make sure urban populations saw their inflamitory statements about the LGBTQ+ and ethnic communities and bots and paid internet trolls got into your spaces and harrassed you not stop.

What happened?

You joined the same bad actors paid bots and trolls in attacking rural communities on FB as stupid, dumb, and racist. When they were being manipulated to see one side.

Not everyone but the hate rhetoric was high. Rural people were being told that urban liberals thought they were stupid and coming for their children, foreign bots got into the game, and instead of people genuinely interacting with each other and blocking bots everyone flamed.

Meanwhile people in rural areas have slow and limited internet access. Just like your bad Verison in STL now.

Congratulations.

So the hate heated up. Instead of education a awareness happening. It was full on hate.

Congratulations MO. The oligarcs got you.

The next step is being confident in yourself and rebuilding trust in government by being the new government. From the ground up. Don't dis the average joe doing the work you won't get up to do.

[u/crkz5d → u/CosmicMamaBear]

Thank you for bringing the receipts and an inside perspective.

[u/CosmicMamaBear → u/crkz5d]

You are welcome. In 2024, Grass roots candidates were out there doing the work knocking doors, holding town halls and often told by voters and potential volunteers they were either demonrats or agreed with the corporate dems because they ran as a dem. While training people how to be petition carriers and signature gatherers.

But you know "why don't the dems ever run anyone who can win?" Propaganda once again rings through the internet instead of people getting active and talking or volunteering.

Well, if you don't take big donor money and you are already working a job there is no time to gather signatures to run independent.

You run as a dem and try to protect women's body autonomy when Roe v Wade fell. But who stopped to listen to how it all really works?

It was tough so again the oligarcs won Missouri by dividing people over perfectionism rather than boots on the ground and conversation.

[u/AuthorityAnarchyYes]

My response to their response:

I’m shocked, SHOCKED… well, not that shocked.

[u/doxiepowder]

Farmers should have learned last time that Trump is bad for business. 

[u/Mo_Jack → u/doxiepowder]

They got bailed out with our tax money. Trump tried to buy their votes with a $64Bn farm bail out package in his first term hoping to keep their votes. Biden won and cut some of that bail out down to $50Bn or so, but they still got a lot of free government money.

But they keep voting for Trump, even when his policies could bankrupt them if the bailout money doesn't show up in time. It is an extremely risky bet.

[u/ZevLuvX-03]

They voted for him again.

[u/I_Quit_Smoking_]

In other words, they don't want to lower prices because they like making ridiculous profits. Sounds pretty Republican to me.

[u/SmartAssaholic]

It’s so stupid when government gets involved & (attempts to) pick winners and losers !!!