Young Ranchers Say Rising Costs Threaten Future of U.S. Cattle Industry
May 18, 2026
Livestock leaders from across the West recently gathered this in Reno, NV as the Common Ground Coalition launched the first of four regional summit meetings focused on the future of the U.S. cattle industry.
Among those attending was Idaho cattle producer Broden Matthews, whose family operation includes a cow-calf business, stocker cattle, farming, and a 10,000-head feedyard.
“We’re involved in the whole chain of the cattle industry from birth to hanging on the rail,” Matthews said.
Matthews says the summit brought together producers and industry leaders from across the livestock sector to discuss some of the biggest challenges facing agriculture today.
One of the issues that resonated most with him was the growing difficulty young producers face trying to enter the cattle business.
“We’ve got to keep the cow-calf guy in business and we’ve got to expand the cow herd,” Matthews said. “It’s getting more and more difficult to do that with rising land costs, high interest rates, high cow costs… everything’s expensive.”
Matthews acknowledged he was fortunate to step into an existing family operation, but says starting from scratch today is becoming nearly impossible for many young producers.
“For a young guy to start out from scratch, it’s dang near impossible,” he said.
The summit also highlighted the importance of bringing together every segment of the cattle industry—from cow-calf producers to some of the nation’s largest cattle feeders.
“It was refreshing to hear those big guys show that much passion about getting young farmers and young ranchers coming along,” Matthews said. “At the end of the day, they’ve got to have it.”
Matthews says consumers also play an important role in understanding the value and importance of the cattle industry.
“If you go to the grocery store and buy a steak, it got there somehow,” he said. “Look out the window and see the cows and calves out on the grass and remember—we’ve got to have those there or there’s not going to be a steak in the grocery store.”
He also emphasized the importance of producer organizations like the Common Ground Coalition and state cattle associations in advocating for agriculture in Washington, D.C.
“Groups like this make the difference because they’re the ones up there passing the message on,” Matthews said.
Additional Common Ground Coalition meetings are scheduled for Omaha in May along with Nashville and Fort Worth in August as the coalition continues building producer-led solutions for the livestock industry.
Learn more at www.commongroundcoalition.net.
Source: Western Ag Network
