John Nalivka

John Nalivka is the president of Sterling Marketing, Inc., which provides economic research and market advisory services to the livestock and meat industries. He became affiliated with Sterling in 1991 as executive vice president and he has owned the company since 1994. Nalivka serves clients across the red meat supply chain from producers to end-users.

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The current phase of the cattle cycle favors ranchers and cattle feeders as 2023 approaches, says John Nalivka. Are there downsides to the current expectations for cattle markets over the next year?
Research by environmental scientists at the University of Oxford, England, have raised the idea of a meat tax to reduce greenhouse gases.
American ranchers continue to face challenges to end livestock grazing on federal lands. We must remain vigilant to those challenges in order to contribute to U.S. agriculture, the food industry and the U.S. economy.
The positive shift in beef demand over the past decade has been supportive of beef prices, but we should be cautious about assuming that demand will remain at such a high level.
Federal misguided environmental policies can have an impact on all of agriculture and impact long-term U.S. food security.
Our inflationary situation is solvable. Energy costs are the most significant driver to inflation across the beef supply chain – gasoline at the pump for consumers and diesel fuel for production and distribution.
When it comes to feeder cattle prices, 2014 was a year to remember. What if we apply those prices to today’s cattle feeding scenario? How would margins fair?
On May 26th USDA announced three initiatives as the first of a “suite of major actions under the Biden Administration to create fairer marketplaces for poultry, livestock, and hog producers.”
Beef prices have been notably higher this year and demand will remain key as supplies tighten into 2023 with consumers continuing to face ramped inflation.
Rather than running to the politicians to solve a problem, perhaps the better strategy might be to gather a plan to create a better understanding of the economics of the industry.