Why is Beef So Expensive?

Why is beef so expensive — and why are independent ranchers being pushed to the brink?

In today’s episode, I'm joined by rancher Cole Bolton of the Beef Initiate to expose the hidden drivers behind skyrocketing beef prices, corporate consolidation, government land-use decisions, and the rise of data centers gobbling up farmland and resources.

Cole Bolton shares front-line insights from ranching country, describing how:

🔥 Independent ranchers face rising costs from monopoly pricing and inefficient supply chains
🔥 Beef packing consolidation and corporate power have hollowed out competition
🔥 Government incentives and policy distort investment away from food production
🔥 Data centers and special interests are consuming land, water, power, and infrastructure once used for food production
🔥 These systemic distortions are directly fueling beef price inflation and hurting ordinary families

Instead of prioritizing food security and rancher livelihoods, policy choices have favored speculative industries that extract value while offering little real economic benefit — all while grocery shoppers feel the pain at the checkout.

👉 In this episode you’ll learn:

The real reasons beef prices keep rising

Why independent ranchers are disappearing

How land misallocation hurts food affordability

What data centers have to do with your grocery bill

How monopoly and policy overlap to distort markets

If you want to understand why the “beef affordability crisis” isn’t an accident — but a design — this episode cuts through the noise and lays it out clearly.

***
Follow on:
Apple:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/conservative-review-with-daniel-horowitz/id1065050908
Substack: https://danielhorowitz.substack.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RMConservative
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@HorowitzShow/videos
Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/CRPodcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conservativereview/