Beef prices surged to an all-time high in July as the market grappled with consistently strong demand and long-term issues in domestic production.
According to the latest consumer price index, which the Bureau of Labor Statistics published on Tuesday, the beef and veal index rose by 2.5% in July, compared to 0.2% for the broader food category. This capped an 11.3% increase over the past 12 months.
Meanwhile, the price of ground beef and uncooked beef steaks has risen by 11.5% and 12.4%, respectively, both now at record levels.
Good. It’s prolly the most polluting food we make (at least as far as meats go)
Don’t compare it to other meats. Compare it to corn, wheat, spinach, etc.
Its magnitudes worse than normal food.
This is not the cure. As the article says:
This will lead ranchers to
expansionexpand their herds.Not true. Lots of chicken farmers decided to switch their infrastructure to growing mushrooms in the past decade.
Because of disease and difficulty of making a profit.
Beef does not have those issues.
Beef definitely has those problems. CAFOs are rancid places full of disease. Slaughter houses too.
Correct, and greater consolidation. This has already been a long trough in the cyclical cycle. A ton of older ranchers are looking at the prices and just selling with no intent to calve another herd. Not a ton of young people lined up behind them. But economics will dictate that the herd is built back up in another 2-3 years as always.
Yeah, IF the higher prices caused consumers to eat less beef, but that’s not necessarily going to happen.
Well if it makes you feel better the high prices have made me quit eating beef. I’ve switched it out for beans and sausage. I’m not vegan but I am cheap.
Sausage has the extra benefit that it’s already seasoned, so you don’t have to add extra.
I’m amazed the meat replacement companies didn’t start with sausage. The extra flavor would help mask any differences in the flavor of the “meat”
Beyond Need has indeed had sausages for quite awhile now.
Sample size of 1, but I’ve basically stopped buying beef since many years back because of how much more expensive it was as compared to chicken or vegetarian options. Granted, I like the climate benefits as well, but I wound down my beef purchasing before that was a more primary concern of mine.
This is in Sweden where beef prices as compared to alternatives have been high for a long time.
all of agriculture is about 1/5 of our ghge, and we need to eat. let’s shut down the war machines before we start telling poor people they need to change their lifestyles
“We need to eat” rhymes poorly with climate wrecking animal farming, which not only speeds up harvest devastating warming and flooding – it also consumes a lot of food and uses enormous amounts of farmable land.
Poor people are not in any way immune to the apocalypse and will have to change their lifestyles one way or the other.
You’re championing dying with a belly full of cheeseburgers over tofu and a shot at long term survival. It’s not progressive.
Not to be a dick, but progressive or not doesn’t matter, what matters us effective.
We need two solutions. Short and long term
Short term survival and the long term bounty.
Nothing dickish about making your point, that’s what we’re here for.
I agree that we need effective measures, in terms of combatting climate change there are few things that are more efficient than eliminating animal agriculture. For there to even be a long term, at all, drastic measures are needed in the short term.
But at this point, it feels like LARPing to bother thinking about, climate change. Not a lot of room for the issue in the flooded zone.
Yeah. We do have a mountain sized orange pimple to deal with first. Or at least living through the orwelian nightmare he heralds
Yep, there is that, no way around it
Just want to note, just because a person gives up beef doesn’t mean you have to have tofu. I really dislike tofu. Even the years I kept vegan I never had it except to try it a few times.
There are tons of other options in the bean world for protein replacement. Otherwise love your point.
Hehe yeah, I think tofu is sooo good though! :P
I ate tofu before I was vegan, but man I’ve upped my tofu game since then. Pan fry it and finish with sesame oil and soy sauce, and its a game changer.
I know it’s a bit of a meme to say “you just haven’t had the right one yet”, but I think a lot of people get the idea of mushy plain tofu and are rightly turned off. It’s so frickin good when you make it right.
Here’s the recipe I use.
Agreed. But the west shouldn’t do that until fascists in Russia and China are lead as far away from power as possible and the genocides they perpetrate stopped.
And those can be easily be financed with rich people’s money, there’s a lot of that to go around.
And regardless, if the west accumulates enough weapons, the associated deterrence will be dissuasive enough anyway.
Edit : Also you’re disregarding the fact that meat is the worst, and beef is the worst meat in terms of greenhouse gas emissions :
Wikipedia graph
There is an obvious solution to needing this amount of food worldwide though.
Genocide is not a good solution to high food prices.
Indeed. I feel that way about most articles/posts about “$15 doLLaR BIg MaC!!1” You’re telling me I’m supposed to be mad that people have to pay more money for less disgusting fast food? No, fuck that. Triple the prices on everything across the board and cut portions down to a third. Maybe then those people will get the message to cook something lean, fresh and healthy at home. /rant
I was speaking to my husbands grandmother (92) recently when the discussion of cooking came up. She mentioned when she was young, they never had salads, they weren’t really a thing. She mentioned most vegetables came in a can, and now salads were expected at meals.
This women eats very little, and very healthy. I bet one reason why she’s still sharp at 92. But it made me think of the culture around food we have in the sates over the last 50-60 years.
We now have full generations of folks not taught how to cook from scratch. I was lucky, growing up on a small farm, my guardian did teach me the basics, igniting a love for cooking. That plus the early 2000’s Food Network shows, I was able to self learn and now I feel invincible in the kitchen. Though I will say I still fuck up from time to time. I made zucchini bread, and definitely didn’t add enough flour, and my bread is very hit or miss. Anyways,
You can’t teach your children what you don’t know youself. So many folks out there don’t know what to do with raw ingredients. I grow oregano, and it’s just all over the yard this year. I tried giving some to my (60-ish) neighbor, and she said, “I dont know what to do with that”.
It’s a fucking herb lady, put it in your stew.
The commercialization of foods from the center isles really had damaged our, collective food knowledge. There are exceptions of folks, similar to me, but a vast number have no clue, nor is it a point in our (American) culture to make sure young folks know how to feed themselves with little ingredients. This road began its paving in the 50/60s with convenience cooking, and the loss of home gardens.
And to add, as a well versed home cook, you absolutely can make super unhealthy foods from scratch as well. Learning to cook is healthier than fast food, but you can absolutely throw down some calorie dense foods in your own kitchen too. It’s not a cure all for health.