A Drovers article
The U.S. beef complex is running into an unprecedented structural squeeze: USDA has slashed annual beef production forecasts to their lowest levels in over a decade, yet the wholesale boxed beef cutout has failed to muster a seasonal rally to match.
Three recent market analyses — by economists Josh Maples, Derrell Peel and David Anderson — frame how cattle numbers, packing realities and wholesale demand are shaping the cattle complex through year-end and into 2027.
Long-term supply constraints continue to compress beef output. In Cattle Market Notes Weekly, Maples, Mississippi State University associate professor and livestock extension economist, notes the impact of a contracted national herd is now fully manifesting in processing volumes.
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