Climate-driven stress on food systems is hitting Americans in their grocery carts, again. This time, ground beef prices have jumped 10.3% since June 2024, meaning they're topping $6 per pound, according to a Time report. 

Consumers are continuing to buy beef, but issues with supply, stress on producers, and extreme weather are disrupting the market. 

What's happening?

The price of ground beef is exceeding $6 per pound, with steak up 12.4% over the same period, according to the report. This is similar to the recent steep rise in egg prices due to bird influenza outbreaks on farms. 

Contributing to rising costs, herd sizes are the lowest they've been in almost 75 years, according to Farm Policy News, and it's driven by drought and high feeding costs. Food economist David Ortega told Time his research estimates these pressures could keep prices elevated for up to four years. 

Ortega also said that tariffs are starting to contribute to the increasing beef prices. 

The U.S. still depends on imported lean trimmings, which are needed to mix with fattier American beef to create ground beef blends. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 50% tariff on Brazilian imports, which could make the process more expensive. 

"If these do go into effect, or even higher tariffs [are implemented], then I think we're going to see a notable further increase on things like ground beef and hamburger meat," Ortega said.

Why is extreme weather a concern for beef?

Extreme weather, such as increasing drought, stresses the environment and slows the recovery of food supplies like beef. 

A 2025 study analyzed 16 examples of rising food prices that resulted from a period of extreme heat, drought, or heavy rainfall between 2022 and 2024. Two of the examples were the cost increases for rice in Japan and onions in India following the heatwave in Asia in 2024. 

Meanwhile, producers have been trying to rebuild herds but have been facing biological delays as well as tighter margins. It takes three years just to get more cows because of the decision-making process, the gestation period, birthing the calf, and raising it until it can have a calf of its own, according to AP News. 

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"Sometimes we have good times, and sometimes we don't," said South Dakota rancher Calli Williams in the AP News report. "We have a lot of producers who are still trying to pay off bills from [the height of the pandemic]."

What's being done to preserve the food supply?

Building up resistance is key to keeping the food supply up. 

According to Nature, diversifying the city's food supply chains boosts resilience to moderate food supply shocks by up to 15%. Producers have also been experimenting with drought-resilient practices, like improving feed storage and implementing rotational grazing during dry years as per the USDA. 

For individual consumers, careful planning or shopping smarter at the grocery store can help reduce pressure on our food system and our ecosystem, as well as your wallet. There are ways to save money while prices are still high, and you might even reduce the amount of costly, unused food that ends up rotting in landfills.

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