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Ground beef costs about $6.89 a pound as of July—that's 10% more than a year ago, and it's hurting families' budgets. The government wants to know if grocery store chains are partly to blame. Investigators are now examining eight major retailers including Walmart, Costco, Amazon, Kroger, Publix, Albertsons, Aldi, and Ahold Delhaize USA to see if they're pricing beef unfairly or working together to keep prices high.
But the real squeeze on beef prices comes from somewhere else: there simply isn't as much beef being produced. The U.S. cattle herd hit its smallest size since 1951—just 86.2 million cattle and calves at the start of the year. This happened because ranchers face higher costs for feed, fertilizer, and equipment (partly due to tariffs and drought), so they're breeding fewer cows. At the same time, a flesh-eating parasite from Mexico called the New World screwworm has infected livestock, and a severe drought affects three-quarters of the country's herds. Beef also has to travel through many hands before it reaches your grocery store: meatpackers like Tyson and JBS have been losing money, which adds another layer to the pricing puzzle.