Posted on 01/30/2022 8:59:15 AM PST by blam
Bacon lovers might be in for a sizzling surprise as pork supplies in cold storage tumble to an 11-year low as prices rise due to declining hog herds.
The latest United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) pork data in cold storage as of Dec. 1 was approximately 399 million pounds, a drop of 4.1% from a year ago and now at the lowest point since 2010.
"The drop came before the spreading omicron virus variant prompted slaughterhouses to slow down in recent weeks as more workers called in sick, further limiting meat production and likely keeping prices for the meat high," Bloomberg explains.
Slumping cold storage has sent USDA bacon prices per pound (as of late December) to around $7.21, a record high and up 39% since the beginning of the virus pandemic.
More importantly, what this means is breakfast is becoming a lot more expensive for Americans as some of the highest inflation in four decades has wiped out their real wage gains.
Food prices are at the highest in a decade, from coffee to oranges to wheat, among other popular breakfast items. Americans are very concerned about inflation. High inflation has spurred discontent for the president, reflected in record low polling numbers ahead of the midterms.
You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
All the pork is in Washington D.C.
"I knew it! I knew it!"
My son works for Sams, just made a pound of bacon this morning. He tells me that there is no shortage, but a willful holdback of product.
I will enjoy my bacon even more now. yum.
Small slaughterhouses still backed way up...and tough USDA restrictions handcuffed them. We were told our pigs couldn’t be over 300lbs for them to slaughter and they are over 500 now (had to wait for kill date). They changed their mind when we said it was custom and we were not selling retail. It”s a problem.
China bought Smithfield Pork...a few years ago
Pigs have always been throughout history a reliable source of cash and sustenance for family farmers. There are no shortages of pigs within the United States. Friend grew up on an apple farm now sold and developed into suburban housing. Tells a great story that they never had a problem with bears. If a bear came to feast on their apples, his dad shot the bear. None of the meat or organs were wasted. Whatever they did not consume was fed to the pigs. Now there are no farmers with rifles and the bears even come into the kitchens of those suburban homes where apple trees once stood.
I haven’t bought a Smithfield product since the sale. I buy Hatfield or North Country. In Stop n Shop I see Smithfield products selling for less than they did before the sale. Maybe they’ve lost a lot of customers. I know they lost me. Oh and one thing the Chicoms shouldn’t forget, land, crops, livestock can be taken back by a powerful govt. A guy like Trump just might be willing to use the power the Dems have given the feds.
One Pound Oscar Meyer bacon was $10.99 at my local Kroger this past Friday
IMHO, the price of bacon has been artificially inflated for at least 5 years, while, at least in northeast Oklahoma, other pork prices have been dirt cheap. How is that possible?
I am sure it is a problem. And it is on purpose.
Mass starvation is the next phase of The Great Reset.
“A sizzling surprise..” Their cutesy remarks on misery.
Les Nessman will lead his award winning farm reports with this story.
He had a Silver Sow award.
I’d hope he’d get walls someday.
That's okay...I'll fill my freezer with other home made stuff...stew...soup...goulash.
Looking at the chart the low of 2010 was worse.
Who remembers it?
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