A few years ago, I took a friend from Ohio camping up in Valentine, Nebraska, but first we had to drive up through the pretty parts of the state (sorry-not-sorry sub-Sandhill Nebraska, you are flatter than Jim Carry was in The Mask when he was run over like a cartoon). When we came upon a sign that said, "Welcome to Beef County,” my friend from Ohio was covering his face with his shirt in the backseat, retching and coughing from the overpowering odor of a sea of black cattle. 

"Where are we?!” He begged, then answered himself, “In Mordor?!”

Not that the smell was anything much for me, who was, as a child, taken by my father down to the 50-cent theater by the stockyards where the putrid smell of cattle was always a precursor to watching a new film on-the-cheap. Beef has always been an intrinsic part of Nebraska; the stockyards had a saying about the rancid aroma, “The Smell of Money." From its start in 1876 to 1956, when it became the largest meat-producing city in the entire world, in the single year of 2025 it slaughtered 6,421,300 cattle, more than any other state. Nebraska’s Department of Agriculture said that in 2024 we placed first in exporting  $2.04 billion of beef to other countries. 

In early 2025, the total U.S. cattle-herd poundage had fallen from 27 billion to 26.1 billion, and cattle slaughter fell 6%. Thus, supermarket beef prices rose sharply. Every country wants beef, as do Americans. To stymie the cost of a steak, the Trump Administration decided to allow the import of up to 160,000 metric tons of (lean) Argentine beef (352.7 million pounds). While this number is not a huge number in the American beef market, it does reduce the total and overall value of cattle carcasses, since the imported cuts are meats used in ground beef, rather than steaks; think McDonald’s patties instead of steakhouses. 

As a result of the Trump Administration’s trade war, in 2025 U.S. beef exports fell to around 2.51 billion pounds, down 12%, while beef imports slammed 18% upward to 5.47 billion pounds. Nebraska’s meat economy remained (generally) unaffected, as we were able to increase our exports to countries like South Korea, shifting that (specific) loss burden from China. While Nebraska was able to find new markets for corn, our soybean exports have not been able to recover. Another item to note is our state’s meat-packing industry as a whole: a Nebraska State Report found that over 43% of the industry workers are Latin Americans. 

This relates to the somewhat recent ICE raid at the Glen Valley Foods meatpacking plant, whose total production output dropped to a staggering 20% of its normal value after the loss of its workforce. The Nebraska Farm Bureau estimated in 2019 that $943.2 million in total agriculture revenue was lost from retaliatory tariffs from other nations, and up to that year, Nebraska farmers received  $573.6 million of bailout funds from the taxpayer. Of the total value that I could find to date, between the first-term tariffs and the Chinese trade war up until now, Nebraska lost $1.97 billion in agriculture export value, even accounting for the Beef shift and increase to South Korea. Total losses are $1.97 billion, and total bailout money “from Trump" to Nebraska farmers is $1.52 billion. That isn’t really "from Trump,” though. That is Trump taking the money that you pay on your taxes every year and giving it to farmers. Shifting the burden from his administration's choices onto farmers and then onto you. And still the loss isn’t fully accounted for. Among the data I could find, it seems that with the farmer bailout, Nebraska still lost somewhere between $120 million to $450 million of expected revenue, even with the burden shifted onto the taxpayers. 

Now, I did want to touch on export nations: up until now I didn’t know that South Korea is Nebraska’s number one importer of beef. The 2024 market data says that they imported $615 million from our state, with Japan in the number two slot at $398 million. China is down to $234 million; Taiwan and Mexico are both at $208 million. Recently, South Korea is in the news because President Trump has been saying that he wants to increase the relationship the U.S. has with North Korea, while massively scaling back the U.S. involvement in military drills in South Korea. This move has been noted to have been made after South Korea refused to help Trump in the current Iran Affair. 

It has yet to be seen how this will affect the price of beef, literally. It, however, is yet another geopolitical move by the Trump Administration which has or could directly affect Nebraska’s agriculture export sector. South Korea is the number one importer of Nebraska Beef. This is following the global tariff war, his first-term trade war, and the bailouts – which are a net-loss anyway you look at it. It's not the farmers receiving free money; it’s farmers receiving less than they expected from other countries while getting your money to compensate for some of the loss. The ICE raids on Nebraska facilities have only harmed our ability to process and export beef (which the Trump Administration noticed and told ICE after the damage had been done to scale back rounding up illegal immigrants from meat-packing plants, farms, and restaurants). 

(Stalling his deportation agenda shows that ‘people can break the law, as long as it suits the needs of the state’. Which is frankly the same thing that Democrats did when they were in charge and breaks down the efficacy of Republican arguments on the matter of immigration). 

Still, with all that said, Nebraska can thank its lucky stars that the demand for beef is still high around the world, and that there is yet no war in the Pacific where almost all of our beef exports are sold. As a longtime resident of this state, it seems when looking back at how Trump’s choices have affected Nebraska financially, that they have been the opposite of “great.” 

“The Smell of Money" 

Austin Petak is an aspiring novelist and freelance journalist who loves seeking stories and the quiet passions of the soul. If you are interested in reaching out to him to cover a story, you may find him at austinpetak@gmail.com.

Opinions expressed by columnists in The Daily Record are not necessarily those of its management or staff, and do not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. Any errors or omissions should be called to our attention so that they may be corrected. Contact us at news@omahadailyrecord.com.