A third column grappling with some of the baffling claims regarding international trade. The focus here is specifically on the noise surrounding the imports of live cattle.
Last week’s cash market topped $150! It’s a timely opportunity to review the need for regulatory intervention into the cash market (i.e. the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act of 2022).
With rebalancing of the cattle market comes a shift in margins favoring cattlemen. The beef industry outlook going forward hinges on the availability of forage for grazing.
America’s cowboys think the tech giant could have Googled more accurate scientific information about beef’s sustainability and value to the environment.
Today’s consumers are not satisfied paying higher prices for commodity beef, research shows. Instead, they have opted to trade up to premium beef products.
USDA just announced “major actions” to “spur competition, protect producers, and reduce costs." Such an announcement might be more intimidating to the free market than helpful.
By expanding U.S. beef demand and sales internationally, the Beef Checkoff is helping promote economic growth and support producers’ bottom lines. More and more consumers worldwide want U.S. beef.
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?
An Executive Order recently called for "advancing biotechnology and biomanufacturing" to create a more "sustainable" bioeconomy. What is this, you may ask? A decoy.
Is Walmart's investment in Sustainable Beef a big deal? If Walmart were serious about beef, they would be buying or building their own kill plant, Barnard says, unless it's a precursor to a bigger move.
A lot has changed since the last drought-induced beef cow liquidation a decade ago. Recognizing those changes is important going into and coming out of the cycle lows.
The U.S. cattle industry needs a referee to ensure a competitive playing field and a viable cash market to keep independent producers in business, says U.S. Cattlemen's Association director Brett Crosby.
A snapshot of beef cow inventories over the past three decades is essentially flat. The advancements in quality and productivity during that time, however, has been impressive.
Closer evaluation of factors driving today's cattle markets do not suggest a 'broken market,' but rather strengthening prices which are the result of increasing consumer beef demand - both domestic and international.
Investment in better genetics, management, research, and promotion have all proven to make a difference towards bolstering demand. Consumers have more awareness of, and access to, high-quality beef products than ever.
For many industry stakeholders, the go-to solution seems to be more localized, regional supply chains. To these folks, the cohort of soon-to-be-built processing plants looks like a golden next era of the meat business.
The alternative meat industry some believed could disrupt traditional meat is struggling with some of America’s high-profile brands rethinking their menus. Disruption appears denied by demand for the real stuff.
Efforts to regulate profits away from packers is a commodity mindset, columnist Nevil Speer writes. A better investment of time and money is toward consumers and growing beef demand.
Livestock Marketing Association says allowing livestock auction owners to invest in small and regional packers will create competition against large packing entities that already exist.
Collaboration between two cattlemen's groups led to a blog from leaders of each urging cattlemen to work together to find common ground. This installment is from NCBA president Don Schiefelbein.
Collaboration between two cattlemen's groups led to a blog from leaders of each urging cattlemen to work together to find common ground. This installment is from USCA Region XI director Kevin Escobar.
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.
Grocery stores have become a battleground for extremists pressuring retailers to remove meat, milk, poultry and eggs from shelves. Recent trends have shown an uptick in store protests, demonstrations and food tampering.
The farmer’s share of the retail beef dollar is often misinterpreted and is not a good measure of industry viability. Much of the discussion about farmer’s share works to commoditize the marketing system.
Famer’s share, the percentage of the retail dollar captured at the farmgate is an important topic, yet it's easily misinterpreted and often conflated with other issues.
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.
Genetic thievery in commercial herds! It’s a real problem, though it often goes unnoticed. Calves with bottom-end genetics pull average weights down and shrink the size of your calf check.
The revenue side of the business always gets the most attention. To that end, producers generally equate the marketing check to the financial health of the operation.
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.
Sen. Chuck Grassley sees his "years-long beef with Big Cattle" soon to be settled. The policy he touts is meant to normalize packer margins, but the market's swinging pendulum is doing that without government intrusion.
The U.S. Cattlemen's Association president says the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act needs support from ranchers to get the legislation across the finish line.
The U.S. Cattlemen's Association president says the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act needs support from ranchers to get the legislation across the finish line.
Monday morning packers are convinced the solution to low cattle prices is more carcass hooks. Reality, however, suggests proposed new packing plants are out of step with cattle inventories and available labor.
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?
International trade is an essential part of the U.S. beef industry. It’s also the topic that seemingly generates more interest among producers than any other major issue within the business.
With the industry divided on the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act legislation, perspectives range across regions of the U.S. TCFA president and CEO Ben Weinheimer shares his southern plains viewpoint.
Plenty of folks are scared of the chickenization scenario, in which first come formulas, then come production contracts, then come “no other options.” Which sounds pretty awful. Is it?
A “beef import problem” does not exist, says Nevil Speer. Actually, beef imports don’t introduce competition – they establish complementarity and the ensuing value creation benefits both consumers AND producers.
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.”
Trade across national boundaries is a positive-sum activity; both trading partners gain or it wouldn’t occur. Any sort of intervention disrupts that premise and artificially establishes a system of winners and losers.
When disruptions and ‘shortages’ occur, consumer buying habits shift in fear of the marketplace. Interestingly, the current infant formula shortage has striking similarities to the pandemic beef industry.
Imports and exports create value and provide opportunity for all trading partners, thereby underpinning the very reason international trade exists and it is integral to economic freedom.
Why are we importing beef, especially processed beef, from Brazil? Why aren’t we and all the environmental groups working together to hit DC like Jan. 6, demanding we stop importing that stuff.
