Debt-to-asset ratios are on the rise, working capital is eroding and farmers’ sentiments are on the decline. Despite the negativity surrounding prices and outlooks, Famer Mac is providing a voice of optimism.
It is extremely important for rapid progress to be made in these negotiations if U.S. beef and pork are to remain competitive in the largest value destination for U.S. red meat, says Dan Halstrom, U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) president and CEO.
Partisan views once considered too crazy to be seriously debated now occupy the mainstream in public discourse — especially mistaken ideas about who benefits from government programs.
Weather continues to have an influence on the cattle market as adverse weather like the most recent “bomb cyclone” to hit the Midwest slow the rate that fed cattle are finished.
Alleyways are used not only for livestock movement, but for cattle "storage." But cattle don’t like to be crowded, and remaining in alleyways until processing makes the corral experience bad, and makes cattle harder to work next time.
The bomb cyclone storm continues to move East.
Ranchers are checking cattle in the middle of the night, as more than a foot of snow pelts of the Western Corn Belt.
U.S. feedlots with more than 500 cattle on feed increased in numbers 12% during the five year period between 2012 and 2017, according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture.
Livestock continued to show a strong presence on U.S. farms and ranches, according to the 2017 Census of Agriculture. Livestock production in 2017 totaled $195 billion, up 7% from 2012.
NASS reports in the 2017 Census of Agriculture that 36% of U.S. farms have beef cows, with the average herd size 43.5 head. Smaller operations, however, are declining.
The 2017 Census of Agriculture found a 3% decline in the total number of farms in the U.S., and that since the 1997 Ag Census the decline has been 7.8%.
Burger King is starting a pilot project in 59 restaurants to start selling a plant-based Whopper and if successful the Impossible Whopper could be found in more than 7,000 locations nationwide.
