BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Members of the beef industry from across the country are meeting in Boise this week for the annual Beef Improvement Federation research symposium. Here they will learn and discuss rising trends within the industry and get filled in on market analysis.
On Tuesday, presentations on the economic drivers of the beef industry took place. Laying out the current imbalance of supply and demand and the increasing prices of consumer beef.
Dave Weaber, a senior research analyst with Terrain Agriculture believes the demand, which were in “record territory” in 2025, is in part due to a better quality product. With prices starting to grow during the era of COVID-19.
“Grocery stores have never really been offered much prime product and now all of a sudden that was in the marketplace,” Weaber said in an interview Tuesday morning. “Consumers just kinda gravitated towards (quality beef). Largely because restaurants were closed, but also because they learned how to cook those kinds of steaks at home.”
According to data put together by Terrain and Weaber, since 2020, the price of beef per pound went from about $5.75 to nearly $9.75 in 2026. This is, in part, due to the increase in demand, but also the lowest inventory since 1951.
Weaber says, one of the factors contributing to this low supply is roughly 60% of cattle rangeland is experiencing drought conditions. Costs are getting offset by the need to ranchers to purchase hay to feed their stock rather than grazing…