Summary:
– Stitt wants Oklahoma processors to join a federal interstate shipment program.
– Trump recently expanded beef import quotas amid record-high prices.
– Oklahoma’s 2025 SNAP error rate was 11.04% as farm bill negotiations continue.
Just days after President Donald Trump took aim at American beef affordability, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt sent letters to Trump, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and the heads of Congress’ agriculture committees, calling for expanded pathways for Oklahoma beef processors to sell across state lines.
Under federal law, only federally inspected processors may engage in interstate commerce, a barrier for Oklahoma’s smaller state-inspected facilities hoping to expand by reaching new markets, Stitt said. According to the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, state inspections are “at least equal to” those done at the federal level through a cooperative agreement with USDA.
Stitt called Oklahoma’s cattle producers “among the best in the country.”
“Expanding the number of Oklahoma processors capable of entering interstate commerce,” Stitt wrote in his letter to Trump, “would create new markets for Oklahoma cattle, increase domestic processing capacity, strengthen competition in the packing industry, and put more American beef into the national marketplace.”
In the United States, the average price of ground beef sits at an all-time high of $6.89 per pound, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and it has steadily risen since December 2020.
Trump signed a proclamation in late August temporarily reducing tariffs on above-quota foreign beef imports to increase the nation’s supply and bring down the average cost of beef.
Under federal law, only so much foreign beef can be imported at the normal tariff rate to keep market prices from dropping too low. Any imports above that quota face steeper tariffs to dissuade market surplus.
“Increasing the supply of beef available to American consumers does not have to depend solely on increasing foreign imports,” Stitt wrote. “We should also remove unnecessary barriers that prevent American ranchers and American processors from supplying American consumers.”
In Stitt’s letter to the heads of Congress’ agriculture committees, he asked that the new farm bill include provisions for state-inspected beef processors to participate in a cooperative interstate shipment program.
Congress, specifically the U.S. Senate, is in the throes of negotiating, debating and jumping over hurdles to reauthorize the 2018 farm bill, the extension for which is set to expire Sept. 30. Besides providing a safety net for farmers and ranchers through crop insurance and commodity programs, the farm bill authorizes and funds the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which accounts for the lion’s share of the bill’s funding.
Despite easy passage in the House, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry failed to advance the farm bill amid disputes over a proposal requiring states to bear a portion of SNAP program costs, an idea highly unpopular among Senate Democrats.
Historically, SNAP program costs have been 100% borne by the federal government, but proposed language in the new farm bill would require states to pay between 5% and 15% of program costs, depending on the state’s error rate for fiscal years 2025 or 2026, starting Oct. 1, 2028.
States with the highest error rates would be required to cover between 15% and 20% of SNAP program costs starting in fiscal year 2031.
According to the USDA, Oklahoma’s SNAP error rate for fiscal year 2025 was 11.04%, the 16th highest in the country.
