KANSAS CITY, Mo. (DTN) -- Mike Johanns, a former Republican Agriculture secretary, said Monday the Trump administration's move to increase beef imports is hurting cattle producers who had finally begun recovering after years of weak returns.

Johanns, a former Nebraska governor and U.S. senator who served as agriculture secretary under President George W. Bush, spoke at the start of an Ag Outlook Forum in downtown Kansas City.

Without directly mentioning President Donald Trump, Johanns criticized the federal government's intervention into beef markets. He described the issue as "white hot" in cattle country. Now that ranchers are benefiting from the stronger side of the cattle cycle, Johanns said the federal government should not intervene simply because beef prices are high.

"If you would take the last 20 years in the cattle industry, 10 of those years I lost money, maybe 12," Johanns said. "A handful of those years were probably break-even at best."

He added, "Finally, they're making some money, and the government steps in, and I just don't agree with that."

Citing high beef prices, Trump last month announced plans to allow 300,000 metric tons (661.4 million pounds) of imported lean beef to enter the country tariff-free over three months. The resulting ground beef would then be sold at a discounted price. Major farm groups immediately called for Trump to reverse course on the plan, but there has been no official word on changes. Responding to industry criticism, USDA rolled out new plans to promote heifer retention, expand local processing and strengthen U.S.-origin beef labels.

Johanns estimated the resulting decline in cattle values cost the average producer somewhere between $250 and $500 per head.

Returns have improved over the past couple of years, particularly for ranchers and cow-calf operators, Johanns said. That optimism was shaken by the administration's announcement that it would increase beef imports in an effort to lower beef prices for consumers.

"Finally, they're kind of healing the pain and seeing some opportunity going forward," he said. "Maybe we can expand the ranch. Maybe we can expand the herd. Then all of a sudden, there's this announcement out of Washington, and they're going, 'Whoa, wait a second! Where did that come from?'"

Producers who previously lacked the cash to make improvements were beginning to do so, he said. Others could consider buying a neighboring ranch if it became available. Johanns said those stronger returns reflected the traditional cattle cycle after years when ranchers frequently struggled to make money.

"Who steps up and says, 'Well, I think they're making too much money?' Our government," Johanns said.

He said producers were largely left to absorb the losses when cattle markets were weak.

"I hated it when the ranchers were losing money, but most of the time, they were," Johanns said. "They just had friendly bankers. That's the only way they could survive."

Ranchers' reaction goes beyond frustration over a short-term decline in cattle prices, the former secretary said. Stronger cattle prices had reached the point where producers repair their finances and consider investments that had been difficult to make during leaner years.

Johanns also questioned whether increasing imported beef would save consumers enough money to justify the financial impact on cattle producers. He said it would only have a modest impact, "maybe a few cents or something on a hamburger," but added that the detriment to cattle producers outweighs the consumer benefit.

The former secretary also touched on his own decisions to oversee beef imports and exports during his time at USDA. One of his biggest challenges when he became Agriculture secretary in 2005 was reopening foreign markets that had closed to U.S. beef following the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or BSE, in Washington state in late 2003.

Johanns said that as he pressed countries such as Japan to reopen their markets to U.S. beef, foreign officials challenged the United States over restrictions it had placed on cattle and beef from other countries, including Canada.

"If you want others to buy our beef, what's your policy going to be on the other end of it?" Johanns said.

Reopening the U.S. market to Canadian cattle was controversial at the time, he noted, with cattlemen's organizations divided over the move. Johanns, however, drew a distinction between imports needed as part of a reciprocal trading system and importing more beef specifically to drive down domestic prices.

"To bring in beef to discount it -- like there's something wrong with our beef here -- that's not set well," Johanns said. "I don't think this is a giant revelation for anybody anywhere in the ag industry, but it is the reality of what's going on out there. There's just some really hard feelings."

Also see, "Major Cattle, Farm Groups Press Trump to Reverse Course on Beef Imports,"

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Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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