BEEF
Feedyard profit margins rebounded slightly after last week’s $2 rally in the cash fed cattle market.
As expected, beef packer margins jumped wildly higher the week ending Aug. 17, while cattle feeding margins slipped into the red.
Cattle feeding margins slipped further into the red last week on soft cash prices, while packer margins climbed to extreme heights.
Last week’s $2 rally in cash cattle prices helped narrow the spread between feedyard losses and packer profits.
Both cattle and hog feeding enterprises continue showing modest losses while packers remain solidly profitable.
The combination of shrinking packer profits and smaller feedyard losses over the past six weeks has reduced the packer/feeder margin spread by 27%, according to the Sterling Beef Profit Tracker.
Further processing of value-added products for direct sale to end-user customers in both retail and foodservice will increase over the next five years and help feed the growing global consumer demand.
Beef packer continued with a stranglehold on cattle markets last week, buying a few cattle to fill their needs at lower money and keeping operating margins historically high.
Activists entering animal facilities under false pretenses are protected in Kansas by ‘free speech’ due to recent Supreme Court rejection.
Cargill has closed its processing plant in Hazelton, PA, which employs 900 workers, indicating it will reopen when “it is safe” to do so.
The agriculture community often tells consumers to “thank a farmer” but we should be thankful for consumers, writes Kate Miller.
The food is fake but the fight is a real, public three-ring circus with companies squabbling over which fake meat is the least icky.
Research into consumer acceptance of alternative proteins reveals nearly a third of Americans believe fake meat products are simply incomparable to real meat.
ASPCA has announced its second “Factory Farm Detox,” a campaign the activist group hopes will encourage Americans to “eliminate factory-farmed foods” during a week-long consumer challenge.
U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., introduced the Real MEAT Act, which aims to clarify the definition of beef and plant-based meat alternatives on product labels.
A vegan man is suing Burger King because it’s impossible for the company to cook an Impossible Whopper without contaminating it with beef.
The billions that have been earmarked — some would say needlessly — to offset famers’ losses in the trade wars … turns out they might not be helping the very folks who need help the most.
Workplace injuries in American meat and poultry processing and packing facilities has reached an all-time low, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Prices for shares of Beyond Meat sank more than 20% on Tuesday as the lock-up period ended for early investors of the first plant-based protein traded on Wall Street.
Let’s stop pretending why people get excited about alt-meat introductions. The reason is pretty simple: Consumers are convinced they can save the planet just by (slightly) changing their diets.
Cornell economists conducted a survey to determine how regulating the use of the word ‘meat’ would affect consumers’ understanding of ingredients, nutritional content and food choices.
Chipotle Mexican Grill says it will sign the European Chicken Commitment, a pact that demands even higher animal welfare standards in Europe by 2026.
Garland Joey Nelson, Braymer, MO, appeared in court on Monday in connection with the July disappearance of two Wisconsin ranching brothers.
The Meat Institute says California’s Proposition 12 hurts the nation’s food value chain by significantly increasing costs for producers and consumers.
How do I debate thee? Let me count the ways — and they’re numerous, because a recent op-ed hit job by the editors at Bloomberg got it totally wrong in their attack on animal agriculture.
Used to be that GMOs ranked right up there with child porn as a blight on society no one should ever consume — until alt-meat foods started using GE ingredients. GMOs now? Not a problem!
Center for Consumer Freedom ran an ad in USA Today exposing the highly processed nature of fake, “plant-based” bacon, which the ingredient list can include tertiary butylhydroquinone and disodium inosinate.
A Missouri man held in connection with the disappearance of two Wisconsin brothers has waived his right to a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence for a trial.
When you promise “food with integrity” you probably should make sure your own house is in order. Chipotle Mexican Grill, it seems, is the proverbial glass house-resident throwing stones.
Why the ‘boom’ in consumer trial of alt-meat shamburgers and chicken? A new market analysis IDs the real reason: It’s all about the urge to try something new and different, if not better.