U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts brought Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Rep. Mike Flood to a farm near Herman, Nebraska, where cattle, dairy and other agricultural producers pressed the pair on immigration enforcement, rising input costs and the national debt. The visit came during Ricketts' reelection campaign.
The Herman stop, reported by 3 News Now, put Ricketts and Thune in front of producers who said certainty and predictability matter more than almost anything else right now. One local agricultural producer told the outlet that high input costs on the farm sit at the very top of her priorities heading into the vote. Ricketts argued that his background in agriculture makes him the right choice for the Senate seat.
That case got its most detailed public airing days earlier at North Platte's Sustainable Beef meatpacking plant, where Ricketts promoted a nine-point plan aimed at helping ranchers rebuild the nation's cattle herds. According to the North Platte Telegraph, the senator was joined there by beef plant co-owner Brad Foote of Imperial, former Nebraska Cattlemen President Steve Hanson and Sustainable Beef co-founder Rusty Kemp. The plan calls for more independent and rancher-owned packers to give producers additional buyers, according to Meatingplace, which also reports the proposal includes restoring mandatory country-of-origin labeling for beef and funding to contain the New World screwworm.
Opposition to Argentine Beef Imports Takes Center Stage
Central to Ricketts' pitch is opposition to increasing beef imports from Argentina, a stance detailed by Meatingplace in its coverage of the senator's rollout. That position puts him at odds with the Trump administration's own strategy: the president proposed importing discounted, tariff-free foreign beef to combat soaring prices, a move Politico reports has been widely condemned by agriculture-state Republicans worried it will undercut the domestic beef industry and hurt ranchers.
Ricketts' nine-point proposal aims to help ranchers rebuild the nation's cattle herds. Ricketts has praised Trump on border security.
Osborn Presses Stockyards Act Enforcement
Independent challenger Dan Osborn, a former Omaha labor leader running his second independent U.S. Senate bid, has made meatpacking concentration a centerpiece of his campaign against Ricketts. The New Republic reports Osborn has criticized the dominance of four companies — Tyson, JBS, Cargill and National Beef — in meat processing, and has warned that importing 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef would undercut Nebraska producers. Recent polling described by the outlet puts Osborn neck and neck with Ricketts in the race.
Per the World-Herald, Osborn has pressed Ricketts to enforce the Packers and Stockyards Act against meatpackers and has criticized the incumbent for not sufficiently challenging the Trump administration's tariff policy. Osborn has also pointed to Tyson's closure of its Lexington, Nebraska, plant — expected to result in layoffs of up to 3,200 workers — calling the decision market manipulation and saying the company was destroying 5% of America's beef processing capacity, according to the Nebraska Examiner.
A New Plant and a Pricier Grocery Bill
The Sustainable Beef plant in North Platte is one effort to boost meatpacking competition, according to the World-Herald. That 550,000-square-foot facility cost $400 million to build and was expected to be fully operational in December, giving ranchers an additional, more local option for processing, per Food Processing. Once fully running, the plant is expected to employ about 850 people and process 1,500 head of cattle daily.
None of this is happening in a vacuum for Nebraska shoppers. Beef prices are a defining issue of the midterm elections nationally, according to ABC News. The outlet notes the Trump administration has tried to lower prices by opening U.S. markets to beef imports, especially from Argentina, but those moves have angered domestic producers as prices have stayed stubbornly high.
Nebraska itself has become a bigger player in the national cattle picture. At the beginning of 2026, the state moved ahead of Texas with 2.8 million head of cattle in feedlots, per the New Republic's reporting. The New Republic reported that Osborn was touring all 93 Nebraska counties.
Ricketts, a former governor and the son of TD Ameritrade's founder, faces a competitive statewide contest. Both campaigns are racing to make their closing pitch to Nebraska's agricultural voters.
