http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/01/30/soaring-beef-prices-force-shoppers-to-find-other-foods/ Now this is interesting to me in that the number of recepients of Food Stamps is at an all time high in the US, and that extra purchasing power usually leads to expansion of ag productive capacities. As the article points out though, Americans simply switch preferences for substitute goods such as chicken or fish, in Europe, specifically France, what happens is organ meats tend to grow in popularity.
I wonder if higher labor costs due to less illegals because of various laws plays a part. They did say feed costs have increased.
Not with high unemployment as a fact o life, the inputs have increased in cost, feed, steroids, etc, all have risen in price as well. What I do find interesting in all of this is substitute goods have become more popular, chicken, pork etc, I wonder if or when the economy is back on course if they remain popular or if tastes switch back to beef.
Don't see high unemployment having any effect on that. Its been proven time and again that citizens are not taking those jobs left open by illegals. I don't think they will. Beef is always one of the things given up in bad economic times. Beef was popular before and after the Depression.
Glad I live in the Midwest and know cattlemen who are more than willing to sell sides of beef. $250/quarter side. Plenty of meat for my wife and I
Beef in texas was cheap this last year - due to the severe drought hay wasn't growing, and it got to expensive for many ranchers to import feed. They ended up slaughtering more than normal and shipped more cattle to other states. However, that will probably cause a price increase this year with somewhat less supply.
Feed costs are way higher due a lot to the ethanol programs. They say that other products like switch grass, etc can be effectively used and from what I hear, grows much quicker as well. But that's another story. But $3 corn makes for cheaper feed than $8 will.
IMO, it depends on how long this will last. Once ppl get used to "mor chikn", it would probably take something "major" to switch back for. We are creatures of habit........
I don't really care how much beef prices have risen since I stopped eating red meat several years ago. Perhaps if beef prices continue to increase, more individuals will stop buying it and turn to other forms of protein in their diet. This would certainly improve the health of all those who love to eat all this unhealthy beef in the first place.
Depends DE, what I mean by that is such prices are based on those who see no other options then to obtain food from the usual channels. For example if one is of a mind, then perhaps a nice Deer or two, taken by men being men, would easily supplement the budget, there is such a joy in hunting, and not that I think women shouldn't hunt, in fact women are probably better hunters then men at times, but there is nothing quite like the manly satisfaction of filling your tag and feeding your family yummy steroid and antibiotic free venison, or rabbit or what have you. In this Ted Nugent is quite right, nothing beats that feeling....
It also depends on how supply and demand affects it. It would probably fluctuate back and forth tho. I also thought about the old "pioneer way" as well. Only problem with relying on that would be supply. There simply isn't enough out there to support it. If everbody took to the woods, game would quickly become scarcer than scarce.
Ah, but that is the thing, far less hunters now then even 10 yrs ago. I must say, this being a sports forum, athletics cannot compete with hunting, you are in the forest, with your friends and the contest is feed your family or not, that makes the super bowl look like a diversion..this is life and death..nothing quite like it.
That might be true but if things were really bad, there would be more hunting than ever, simply because of our huge numbers. If everyone were forced back to nature to survive, many would perish.
Heh, not going to happen Bro, food stamps means hunting is no longer what it was in most peoples' mindset. You took it to true worst case scenario, but that is not even close to being reality, but in the meantime when looked at as an economic activity, large game hunting is actually quite attractive as means to supplement food budgets.
true about food stamps but what if they were eliminated? Could happen altho unlikely in our day and age.
But much more industrialization, which means much less game due to dwindling populations of just about everything. We are adding new species to the endangered and extinct list every other year. The pioneer way would be great if industrialization didn't radically change the ecosystem and our dependence on packaged food.