From January 2020 to December 2025, the average price of beef steaks in America soared from $7.65 a pound to $12.51 a pound. That's a 63% increase. So where's the money going? Straight to the Big Four meatpackers: Tyson, Cargill, JBS, and National Beef.
The TysonCargillJBSNationalBeef playbook is ugly. When cattle prices go up, the packers close plants or "right-size" operations. Not because demand is down, but because artificial scarcity is profitable. When Tyson shut down one of its massive plants (employing 3,200 workers), Dan Osborn called it out on X: "Tyson made a calculation that the profits they reap by shutting down this giant plant will EXCEED any loss they incur."
And it worked. During COVID, two giant Nebraska plants shut down. What did the other two do? They cut their own production to match instead of stepping in. Choice cuts of beef doubled in price overnight while ranchers got paid 30% less for their cattle.
The evidence is damning enough that the packers' own customers are suing them back. McDonald's filed a federal complaint in 2024 claiming the Big Four "collude with seeming impunity, acting as a single enterprise to advance their conspiracy." Kroger, Aldi, Target, BJ's, Sysco, and Sodexo followed. Tyson has already paid out $142 million in two separate settlements and denied wrongdoing. JBS posted record revenue of $7.2 billion in Q3 2025.
The Trump administration is now demanding a DOJ investigation. R-CALF and independent ranchers are cheering. But here's the part the White House press release didn't mention: the DOJ had already opened — and quietly dropped — an investigation into these exact allegations weeks earlier. Sound familiar?
The bottom line: Your steak isn't expensive because ranchers are getting rich. It's expensive because four companies have decided they should be. Every dollar you pay over the real cost of beef is a tax on your family, sent directly into the pockets of out-of-state companies you've never met.
That's why we built our own plant. That's why we cut our own. And that's why the meat at Homefood costs what it actually costs to raise, process, and put in your hands — not a penny more.
📎 Sources: The Guardian investigation | DOJ Confirms Probe (AgInfoNet) | White House Statement | Investigate Midwest Fact Check
