Posted on 09/25/2012 4:47:58 AM PDT by Abathar
Might want to get your fill of ham this year, because "a world shortage of pork and bacon next year is now unavoidable," according to an industry trade group.
Blame the drought conditions that blazed through the corn and soybean crop this year. Less feed led to herds declining across the European Union “at a significant rate,” according to the National Pig Assn. in Britain.
And the trend “is being mirrored around the world,” according to a release (hat tip to the Financial Times).
In the second half of next year, the number of slaughtered pigs could fall 10%, doubling the price of European pork, according to the release.
The trade group urged supermarkets to pay pig farmers a fair price for the meat to help cover the drought-related losses.
In U.S. warehouses, pork supply soared to a record last month, rising 31% to 580.8 million pounds at the end of August from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The surge came as farmers scaled down their herds as feeding the animals became increasingly expensive.
In July, global food prices leaped 10% from the month before, according to the World Bank. Maize and wheat jumped 25% while soybeans rose 17%.
I live on 8 acres in rural Alaska right in the middle of a winter moose migration route when they come down from the heavy snows in the hills.
One of these days buffalo will again populate the prairies from horizon to horizon.
I too have issues with eating some pork, I can eat a Christmas ham no problem and every sunday morning I must have a plate of salted and peppered bacon, but thats it.
They still mandate the addition of ethanol to gasoline. That is still a subsidy. Mandating a market where none would otherwise exist is a subsidy.
At $7 - $8 per bushel, farmers will produce all the corn they possibly can; at $2 - $3, they'll only produce what the government pays them to.
Paint “DOG” on the side of your pig, and it will fool 90% of them.
Exactly.
There’s 20 miilion more acres planted in corn than there was a few years ago thanks to increased demand (and price) due to ethanol.
Where would we be during this so-called shortage without those millions of extra acres?
Once I was driving to my deer stand in North Louisiana. I saw a hog standing in the dirt road, as wide as my car. (Olds 88, good hunting car.) It was huge, blocked the whole dirt road and didn’t budge when I honked.
Gee could it be that part of the problem is that 40% of our drought ravaged corn crop will be converted into worthless ethanol?
I come from a farm family.
Farmers produce that which gets them the largest profit.
In the sixties and early seventies we grew sugar beets. Then in the late 70s it became soy beans.
Now with the government pushing corn ethanol farmers are planting every field they can with Corn because that is the biggest profit maker. The problem with this is that the demand for corn by ethanol distillers is pricing (for now) cattle farmers out of the consumers of corn market. Eventually the price of meat will rise to the point that cattle farmers will again be able to sell meat at a profit. Unfortunately that price may well be above what the lower middle class can afford.
If the ethanol mandate goes away the price of corn will fall. With lower prices less corn will be grown but there will still be a demand for corn. The amount of corn grown will eventually fit the demand.
We must all remember that it is not only meat that will cost more there is also corn syrup, corn sugar and corn oil. Then there are of course all of the things made with these products.
Ethanol must die.
That one’s easy. Obama’s increasing reliance and push for ethanol laced gas and his refusal to stop caused feed prices to go up so high farmers slaughtered their herds instead.
Let the market determine the price and the amount produced. Supply and Demand. It works every time.
http://reason.com/blog/2012/08/15/will-nothing-slay-the-ethanol-dragon
"Obama could solve this problem instantly by suspending the federal ethanol mandate -- something his EPA actually can do unilaterally and legally. Instead, Obama will buy up meat -- a move that meat producers say won't help them much anyway. "It doesn't solve the problem of having enough affordable corn next summer," industry analyst Steve Meyer told Reuters. "Without changing the ethanol program, nothing can be done," he said."
A couple of my cats eat the pellets for baby pigs, and so if one happens to be in the pen, I am certain the folks would suddenly get all loving toward all those ‘cats’ eating out of the feeder.
As I said, cattlemen who long for the days of cheap corn aren’t advocates of free market pricing, but rather for the subsidized production of cheap corn. If a cattleman built his business on the assumption that the government would guarantee him a perpetual supply of subsidized corn, and didn’t leave himself any sort of hedge, it’s his fault and not the corn farmers’. (similarly, if a corn farmer builds his business plan on the assumption that the government will guarantee perpetually high corn prices, without a hedge, it’s his own fault when he crashes)
My wife is from South Carolina where bbq means pork. I’m from South Louisiana and Texas where bbq means beef. Odd that I too cannot tolerate too much pork or my gut gets weird (no details). Maybe its a genetic thing based on where you grow up. BTW I love crispy bacon.
I’ve got 100 acres with a 12 acre bass lake sitting in the middle of it.
If push comes to shove I do have a variety of critters around to make up for what Obama has priced out of my reach too.
Ducks have been known to develop paralysis while in flight and tumble from the sky. This phenomena is often accompanied by a boom like sound as their muscle coordination ceases... I betcha that if a bambi just happened to walk into your sight and dropped dead of a sudden coronary failure, and then marvelously gutted itself and jumped into your freezer, you would not complain at all ;-)
Best thing about being out in the styx is that the neighbors also have a plague of bambis committing suicide on their property. No one seems to be able to determine why the rise in bambi suicides...
My dearwife was against causing bambis to have heart attacks right up to the time they ate most of her rose bushes.. Amazing how her thinking has modified...
Oh no! After being vegan for years, I am back to eating meat and have to admit that bacon is the best!
I am in a state with more hogs than people, so maybe we can ride out any shortage, but in case there’s a problem, can you freeze bacon? : )
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
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