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Americans are eating less and less meat
Washington Post ^ | 01/11/2012 | Brad Plumer

Posted on 01/11/2012 8:20:43 PM PST by iowamark

Meat eating in the United States is going out of style. According to a Department of Agriculture report, Americans are projected to eat 12.2 percent less meat in 2012 than they did 2007. And it’s not just the weak economy. As Mark Bittman observes, there’s a real long-term trend here: “Beef consumption has been in decline for about 20 years; the drop in chicken is even more dramatic, over the last five years or so; pork also has been steadily slipping for about five years.”

Why is this happening? The Daily Livestock Report blames rising meat prices in the United States. As countries like China and India get richer, they’re eating more meat, which is helping to drive up U.S. exports and making beef, pork, and chicken more expensive here at home. Ethanol also plays a role: Nowadays, American farmers divert bushels and bushels of corn to make fuel, which drives up feed prices and, again, makes meat pricier.

Perhaps just as significantly, though, it does seem that attitudes toward meat are changing. More and more people appear to be cutting back on beef and pork consumption for environmental or ethical reasons. (Although before vegetarians get too excited, one factor that often gets overlooked here is the aging of the population — as the baby boomers get older, they’ve been eating less meat.)...

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
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To: iowamark

Way to bury the lead, there, WAPO...

Buried in the article is the explanation that it’s simple demographics. The baby boom bulge in the population is aging... And as people get more elderly they tend to eat less meat.


21 posted on 01/11/2012 8:37:32 PM PST by Ramius (Personally, I'd give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?)
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To: iowamark

I understand donkey roast is very satisfying, especially after it has been fed crow.


22 posted on 01/11/2012 8:39:39 PM PST by Beowulf9
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To: iowamark

>> NYT: Why?

Obamanomics, that’s why. What’s the cost of chop meat these days $7/lb?


23 posted on 01/11/2012 8:42:02 PM PST by Gene Eric (C'mon, Virginia -- are you with us or against us?!)
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To: iowamark

What to do with my “canine” teeth? have them filed off?

Did not the father of the prodigal son call to slaughter the fatted beef?

Or did Moses lead Israel to the land of soy milk and Nutrasweet?

(1 Tim 4:1-4 KJV) “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:”

Need say more?


24 posted on 01/11/2012 8:42:24 PM PST by One Name
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To: iowamark

That graph seems to contradict much of the article. It shows a decline in in beef consumption, but what looks like a doubling in turkey... And a huge increase in “broilers” (chicken?), with pork holding pretty steady.


25 posted on 01/11/2012 8:43:29 PM PST by Ramius (Personally, I'd give us one chance in three. More tea anyone?)
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To: iowamark

I’m a dedicated carnivore but it’s true our consumption has declined a bit.

The truth is that “fryer parts” chicken is tasteless and full of various chemicals like antibiotics, hormones etc so I won’t touch it except for the *very* occasional KFC !

A lot of beef is pretty tasteless too unless you buy the top grade which gets expensive. Sam’s steaks are good here but WalMart’s are horrible. We’re lucky to have a real butcher close by for special occasions. We do use a fair bit of hamburger beef, for that and tacos :)


26 posted on 01/11/2012 8:43:56 PM PST by 1066AD
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To: iowamark

They are being indoctrinated in the marxist school system enabled by Goals 2000 and the Education establishment that they should only eat gruel, like good serfs.


27 posted on 01/11/2012 8:44:39 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: rockinqsranch
Difficult to chew with what’s left of the ol’ tooth.

225 degrees in a covered roaster with a splash of liquid for about an hour a pound. It'll melt in your mouth...

28 posted on 01/11/2012 8:47:28 PM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)
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To: Ramius

This is a non-story, IMHO. My Baby Boomer parents are eating less red meat and chicken nowadays. They’re eating mostly fish with vegetables and a lot of beans.


29 posted on 01/11/2012 8:50:18 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: iowamark

How do you plan a meal without meat? Beef, Venison, Pork, and Poultry in that order! If the Steak does not moo when I cut it it is over-done.


30 posted on 01/11/2012 8:54:13 PM PST by aliquando (A Scout is T, L, H, F, C, K, O, C, T, B, C, and R.)
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To: 1066AD

Change your diet to buy local.

Then your beef will be good all the time.

If you can’t get good beef locally, use chicken and pork as an alternative.

The globalists want everyone on a diet of gruel, so they are too weak to be aware.

They fund all the vegetarian, vegan propaganda these days. Your local school system is the vector for this propoganda, so if you have children in public schools, don’t be surprised if they come home and say they won’t eat meat anymore.

A weak people won’t fight the globalist system.


31 posted on 01/11/2012 8:55:17 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: mquinn
There’s meat on the table pretty much every day of the week in this house.

Yep. Could be beef, could be pork, poultry or fish. Might be a lot, might be a little, but there's some kind of meat.

32 posted on 01/11/2012 8:57:16 PM PST by GATOR NAVY ("The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen." -Dennis Prager)
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To: writer33

living on ramen noodles


33 posted on 01/11/2012 9:03:40 PM PST by dila813
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To: GATOR NAVY

They have put nearly all the fishermen on the California coast out of business.

Where do you get your fish?


34 posted on 01/11/2012 9:04:17 PM PST by hedgetrimmer
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To: iowamark

Read `The International Meat Crisis` and rethink where you get your meat.


35 posted on 01/11/2012 9:08:44 PM PST by rfreedom4u (Forced diversity causes dissent!)
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To: iowamark

Environmentalists and Corn farmers and their whore lawmakers have become Rent-seeking fascist/corporatists who have stolen the food supply of the American people.

http://bigpictureagriculture.blogspot.com/2011/12/update-on-percent-of-corn-crop-being.html

Here are the latest percentages of corn being turned into ethanol domestically and globally, based upon the last WASDE report data:
U.S. corn crop being turned into ethanol: 40.6%
Percent of the global corn crop being turned into ethanol here in the U.S.: 14.6% (Note that this doesn’t include corn ethanol being made outside of the U.S.)

December World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report.

“What each of us can relate to is our higher cost of food at the supermarket. Using 41% of our corn crop for ethanol makes our domestic food costs go up. More farmers are dedicating their acres to planting corn instead of wheat, barley, dry beans, oats, cotton, peanuts, and other crops. Wheat and soybeans are being substituted as feed world-wide due to high corn prices. Corn is used in feed, and high corn prices cause hardships for livestock producers. Cattle herds have been culled, turkey and poultry facilities have closed, and dairy producers are struggling while we all pay more for peanut butter.

Meats, dairy, eggs, fats and oils are all up more than 10% this year, far exceeding the core price inflation. That is not what our struggling middle class needs in this 2011 economic hard time. Talk about the ethanol industry biting the hand that feeds it. We taxpayers subsidize ethanol production, and then we pay higher food prices for what we eat.”


36 posted on 01/11/2012 9:12:58 PM PST by JerseyHighlander
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To: iowamark

It IS the weak economy.

Jeez.


37 posted on 01/11/2012 9:13:48 PM PST by Nik Naym (It's not my fault... I have compulsive smartass disorder.)
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To: iowamark

We let the cows eat the veggies.....then, we eat the cows.


38 posted on 01/11/2012 9:14:39 PM PST by Mortrey (Impeach President Soros)
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To: Grizzled Bear

“Being a vegetarian means never needing to apologize for being gay, not that there’s anything wrong for that.

Don’t worry. Us carnivores won’t judge you...much. “

Dildos are a meat substitute for gay women.


39 posted on 01/11/2012 9:15:42 PM PST by Rembrandt (.. AND the donkey you rode in on.)
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To: Vendome

“We don’t really need to eat as much meat as we do and it cost less to eat whole grains, Legumes, beans and veggies.”

I applaud your decision on your health; are you ok with me choosing to eat meat every day since that is MY decision?


40 posted on 01/11/2012 9:18:49 PM PST by Rembrandt (.. AND the donkey you rode in on.)
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