By Alice McFarlane

North American bison industry responds to tariff threats

Feb 7, 2025 | 4:52 PM

Bison roamed North America for thousands of years before there were any international borders.

Ranchers and conservationists on both sides of the Canadian-U.S. border saved the species from extinction and since the 1980s, a strong commercial industry has evolved in both countries.

The North American bison market is extremely integrated and despite the border, they still move across it relatively freely. A 25 per cent tariff threatens to disrupt an already tight bison supply chain and cause severe harm at the farm level in both countries.

The National Bison Association (NBA) and Canadian Bison Association (CBA) are jointly seeking a quick end to the threat of tariffs.

Both organizations are calling on officials to avoid any further disruptions and return to the duty-free trade for live bison.

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Scott Yule, executive director of the CBA said tariffs would significantly hurt the Canadian bison industry, but also significantly damage the entire North American market.

“The U.S. simply can’t supply their domestic markets without Canadian bison,” Yule said. “When U.S. consumers aren’t able to source bison meat from their regular supplier, they will eventually move to other sources of protein. It could take a lot of effort to regain their interest in this delicious and healthy meat.”

Americans are the largest consumers of bison meat in the world. The U.S. industry relies on weekly shipments of live bison to supply growing demand for its clean and naturally raised protein.

Due to the nature and logistics of shipping live bison, a non-domesticated species, even the recent threat of tariffs resulted in the disruption of exports from Canada to the U.S.

NBA Executive Director Jim Matheson said the U.S. has long been the sole importer of live Canadian bison, which are finished, or go direct to slaughter here.

“They’re crucial to supplying our domestic markets with healthy, regeneratively raised bison. In 2024, imported live Canadian bison made up nearly half of the total bison processed in the U.S., about 80,000 head,” Matheson said. “The new tariff on these imported bison is already impacting our supply chain negatively. Just this weekend after news broke of the tariff, one of our top Canadian importers announced that they are halting imports to the U.S. effective immediately due to the tariff at a time when the supply of market-ready bison is extremely tight.”

Nearly half of all bison processed in the U.S. in 2024 were imported from Canada. It supports a nearly $1 billion industry and a growing sector of American agriculture.

The NBA and CBA will continue monitoring the situation and work with officials in both countries to come to a resolution that will sustain the bison business, and in turn, the North American bison herd.

The bison was established as the National Mammal of the United States in 2016.

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alice.mcfarlane@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @farmnewsNOW