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.

Latest Stories
Market economics go beyond supply and demand and other key drivers are becoming increasingly meaningful in the current market environment including adjustments to production capacity.
Sound resource management with a drive toward increased production efficiency will support production agriculture well into the future.
Oregon ranchers and feedlots are concerned about Senate Bill 85, which would stop the permitting of all “industrial sized” operations.
Several market advantages exist for building high-quality genetics into your herd, but capturing the value that has been created is a different issue.
With extremely tight cattle numbers, how quickly can producers expand their herds - if at all. Drought and slim margins mean expansion will be a rather slow-go with many ranchers taking a wait and see approach.
The need for telling beef’s story to the general public, to both beef consumers as well as non-consumers, has become increasingly important and critical to the long-term success of the industry.
Economies of scale is not a difficult concept, and it is one that certainly does not need our government using it to decide what is fair.
What clues can cattlemen glean from historical market activity from December to May for perspective on price trends and profit margins?
Both the inventory of beef cows and total cattle numbers in 2023 will be the lowest since 2014. After seven years of low returns, ranchers now look forward to 2023 with prospects for significant profits.
Retail beef prices are higher, but the more relevant prices are featured prices on the ads that are reported every week by USDA and provide a much more realistic picture of retail meat case activity.