COLORADO SPRINGS — The Trump administration tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico are on a 30-day hold for negotiations.
Within Colorado’s cattle industry, there is still discussions about the potential impact of tariffs.
Colorado is on the top ten list of cattle producers in the United States.
There are nearly three million cattle statewide.
The owner of the business Ranch Foods Direct in Colorado Springs has a unique perspective on the issue.
It is a business that focuses on raising, processing, and selling beef locally.
“Basically create our own supply chain to avoid the big, monopolized and exploitive supply chain that currently exists across the country and really around the world,” said Ranch Foods Direct Owner, Mike Callicrate.
He raises cattle on the Colorado/Kansas border and sells the beef independently in Colorado Springs.
Years back Callicrate along with some other ranchers had a legal clash with corporate beef companies.
He also wanted to produce a more humane, higher-quality beef product.
He took on the risk of starting Ranch Foods Direct.
“Yeah, there's a lot of people thought I was crazy,” said Callicrate.
He has plenty to say about corporations and why he believes they undercut small producers.
One of the major factors is cattle imported at very low prices from other countries.
“To some extent, the tariffs are a way to sort of de-globalize, make it harder for big corporations to search the world for the cheapest of everything to sell in the highest consuming markets,” said Callicrate.
His small business has benefited from previous interruptions to beef imports, as the tariffs could cause.
The most notable example is during the pandemic.
“When those supply chains broke down, shelves were empty across America, small companies like us never missed a lick. We never had an empty shelf. We just turned it up and worked a lot harder and dealt with the increase in our business, which was three times.”
The business model at Ranch Foods Direct is dependent on individuals and restaurants willing to pay more for a higher-quality product.
Callicrate is well aware that many consumers are more concerned about a deal.
“To the extent that big retail will raise their prices, or food service would raise their prices as a result of tariffs, that would give us some more advantage.”
Watch Mike Callicrate discuss the pros and cons of a potential trad war and impact on Colorado beef
Beyond talk of tariffs would like to see the United States government consider other changes to agriculture policy like using U.S. dollars to buy U.S. ag products, for government-supported programs.
“For whatever beef that the government buys for, whether it's for school lunch, military, institutional trade of any kind, maybe it's the food pantry purchases, they should always prioritize buying local and regional,” said Callicrate.
The Ranch Foods Direct Model is just one of many paths of Colorado cattle going from ranch to market.
More rancher impacts will come to light as tariff discussions continue.
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