The standard orthodoxy is that fresh fruits and vegetables are superior to frozen ones, in vitamins and minerals. The line continues that raw fruits and vegetables are superior to cooked ones.
That may or may not be true. It turns out that frozen fruits and vegetables go right from the vine to the flash freezer, frequently on the same day, sealing in all the vitamins and minerals.
The fresh product you buy at the produce counter of your friendly local supermarket may be several weeks old by the time you can get your hands on it. Many of the vitamins and minerals have evaporated out into the air, sitting around, waiting for you to buy it.
Similarly, cooking in moderation frequently releases vitamins and minerals into a more easily digestible form for your body to absorb. Lightly steamed carrots are much more useable by the human body than raw ones. Tomatoes concentrated into spaghetti sauce or something, release the health-giving lycopene more potently than raw tomatoes, which is excellent for male prostate health, in particular.
The real enemy of vitamins and minerals in cooked fruits and vegetables is excessive boiling. Light steaming, saute or roasting them seals in the nutrients--while heavy duty boiling leaches the nutrients all out into the water, where they're thrown away.
Just a little tip from the farm, for you city slickers out there . . .
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Corn harvest out of sync
The highly sophisticated, scientific farmers when I was growing up always said the corn crop was good if "you could bury a jug in it by the 4th of July."
In a lot of the corn belt of the U.S., which includes Iowa, parts of Nebraska and Kansas, Illinois and Indiana, this year that was not the case. The highly technical, scientific way corn is raised today, the official terms were that it silked late and tasselled late. This was due to a late spring, late moisture and summer temperatures that never did heat up to the maximum.
In practical terms, this means harvest will be one to three weeks later in the fall. That's fine, if the weather gods give you a hot first few weeks in September and early October. More likely, at least some areas will turn cold or even freeze and a less than bumper crop will be harvested. This has played out the last few days on the Chicago Board of Trade, where corn futures have risen, after a prolonged slump, on the basis that the crop will not be as big as projected.
There might not be enough corn to go around, between the needs of ethanol producers, livestock feeders and poultry producers, and corn refiners who make corn syrup to sweeten soda pop, commercial baked goods and candy.
An unusually late and hot fall, could send all these projections into the tank too. Farmers have always been at the mercy of the weather, and 2008 is no exception.
In a lot of the corn belt of the U.S., which includes Iowa, parts of Nebraska and Kansas, Illinois and Indiana, this year that was not the case. The highly technical, scientific way corn is raised today, the official terms were that it silked late and tasselled late. This was due to a late spring, late moisture and summer temperatures that never did heat up to the maximum.
In practical terms, this means harvest will be one to three weeks later in the fall. That's fine, if the weather gods give you a hot first few weeks in September and early October. More likely, at least some areas will turn cold or even freeze and a less than bumper crop will be harvested. This has played out the last few days on the Chicago Board of Trade, where corn futures have risen, after a prolonged slump, on the basis that the crop will not be as big as projected.
There might not be enough corn to go around, between the needs of ethanol producers, livestock feeders and poultry producers, and corn refiners who make corn syrup to sweeten soda pop, commercial baked goods and candy.
An unusually late and hot fall, could send all these projections into the tank too. Farmers have always been at the mercy of the weather, and 2008 is no exception.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Big cattle nunbers right around the corner
Labor Day marks the time every year when the cattle start coming off the public lands, like National Forests, Bureau of Land Management and National Grazing Reserve lands, and go to market.
Winter is on the way, and the cattle move off those lands until next summer. A few ranchers will winter the cattle on their place if they have beet tops, corn stalks or some other feed. Most will sell them--in fact, many already have, on the summer video auctions. for fall delivery.
The sale barns will start seening big runs, and many others are sold direct, right from the ranch to winter wheat grazing in the Texas-Oklahoma Panhandle.
This is the time when cattlemen assess their feed supply and preg check their cows, deciding who to keep, and how many, on winter grazing. Many think culling will go deeper than usual this fall, compensating for high feed prices, high energy costs and a shortage of feed in some areas.
There is little marketing activity in the summer, as the cattle are all out on summer pasture. Now they're all coming in for winter, and marketing kicks into high gear.
Those with wheat pasture or other grazing will be buying, and many cow/calf producers will be selling, for their only paycheck of the year.
For cattlemen, it's an exciting and busy time.
Winter is on the way, and the cattle move off those lands until next summer. A few ranchers will winter the cattle on their place if they have beet tops, corn stalks or some other feed. Most will sell them--in fact, many already have, on the summer video auctions. for fall delivery.
The sale barns will start seening big runs, and many others are sold direct, right from the ranch to winter wheat grazing in the Texas-Oklahoma Panhandle.
This is the time when cattlemen assess their feed supply and preg check their cows, deciding who to keep, and how many, on winter grazing. Many think culling will go deeper than usual this fall, compensating for high feed prices, high energy costs and a shortage of feed in some areas.
There is little marketing activity in the summer, as the cattle are all out on summer pasture. Now they're all coming in for winter, and marketing kicks into high gear.
Those with wheat pasture or other grazing will be buying, and many cow/calf producers will be selling, for their only paycheck of the year.
For cattlemen, it's an exciting and busy time.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Ho hum. No mention of agriculture, again
Suprise, surprise! Barack Obama and the Democrats made no significant mention of agriculture, farming or ranching from the podium at the Democratic National Convention. Actually, there probably won't be any mention at the GOP fest in Minneapolis next week either.
The farm vote pales into obscurity, once the Iowa caucuses are over each election year. This one has proven to be no different. The only hope we'd have is if they ran out of food, and the delegates were hungry. Perhaps then we wouldn't be ignored.
Admittedly, the power of the farm vote to swing the election is miniscule. Maybe in a few minor western and plains states, the farm vote could be significant. But they're not competitve, and McCain will carry them hands down.
There's enough urban votes in big farm states like Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, and North Carolina that agriculture doesn't come into play in determining the electoral outcome.
But if we suddenly had a famine, a food shortage, starvation in the land. . .
American agriculture is too productive, too efficient and does its job too quietly and too well. As the old saw says "It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease."
The farm vote pales into obscurity, once the Iowa caucuses are over each election year. This one has proven to be no different. The only hope we'd have is if they ran out of food, and the delegates were hungry. Perhaps then we wouldn't be ignored.
Admittedly, the power of the farm vote to swing the election is miniscule. Maybe in a few minor western and plains states, the farm vote could be significant. But they're not competitve, and McCain will carry them hands down.
There's enough urban votes in big farm states like Illinois, Indiana, Georgia, and North Carolina that agriculture doesn't come into play in determining the electoral outcome.
But if we suddenly had a famine, a food shortage, starvation in the land. . .
American agriculture is too productive, too efficient and does its job too quietly and too well. As the old saw says "It's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease."
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
The bounty of the garden
City folks this time of year can savor the special joy and sense of accomplishment that comes from farming. Millions of Americans are havesting tomatoes, green beans and many other crops out of backyard gardens, canister gardens on a deck or even little pots of herbs in a window sill.
The produce is the freshest possible, so the taste and flavor are incredible. Even better, is the satisfaction of knowing that you planted it, watered it, weeded it, fertilized it and made it grow. You can take rightful pride in what you did.
If you added up all the man hours, the cost of the seeds and fertilizer and the water, maybe you didn't save much over buying the same stuff at the supermarket or farmer's market. But the personal achievement of starting something and seeing it through to completion is worth a lot.
In microcosm, you have experienced what keeps people farming and ranching. Each year brings new life, as you see baby animals born and seeds sprout through the topsoil. The greater the effort you make to nurture them and see them through to maturity, the greater the sense of pride and satisfaction.
Even if the market is bad, and the return on your work isn't all you'd hope it would be, nobody can take the satisfaction away. Even a bad storm, drought or other natural disaster doesn't dissuade you trying again next year.
That's the addiction of the agrarian lifestyle.
The produce is the freshest possible, so the taste and flavor are incredible. Even better, is the satisfaction of knowing that you planted it, watered it, weeded it, fertilized it and made it grow. You can take rightful pride in what you did.
If you added up all the man hours, the cost of the seeds and fertilizer and the water, maybe you didn't save much over buying the same stuff at the supermarket or farmer's market. But the personal achievement of starting something and seeing it through to completion is worth a lot.
In microcosm, you have experienced what keeps people farming and ranching. Each year brings new life, as you see baby animals born and seeds sprout through the topsoil. The greater the effort you make to nurture them and see them through to maturity, the greater the sense of pride and satisfaction.
Even if the market is bad, and the return on your work isn't all you'd hope it would be, nobody can take the satisfaction away. Even a bad storm, drought or other natural disaster doesn't dissuade you trying again next year.
That's the addiction of the agrarian lifestyle.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Grass fed beef not for everyone
The Wall Street Journal and other mass media are suddenly running puff pieces playing up the virtues of grass fed beef. They are right that it is lower in fat, cholesterol and calories.
If that's all you eat for, then grass fed beef is for you. If, on the other hand, you dine rather than merely eat--most of the pleasure of eating beef is missing in grass fed. The taste, texture, flavor--and most importantly--tenderness, in beef comes from that last 120 days or so, of the steer's life in the feedlot.
They call it finishing a steer, for a reason. A high energy diet of grain and less roughage, plus less exercise from roaming the range, tenderizes the beef, adds the ribbons of marbling that gives beef its unique taste, texture and flavor. Extended aging of the carcass in the cooler after it is hung, finishes the process.
Grass fed beef is tough and stringy, with much less marbling, as the steers must still roam the range for forage. There is only a limited amount that can be done with cutting and aging of the grass fed carcass. Without the marbling to moisten the meat, no amount of aging or unique cutting will improve it.
If all you eat is hamburger, or long, slow cooked cuts like stew, pot roast or swiss steak, then grass fed beef won't make that much difference--although frankly, even these dishes will be improved with corn fed beef.
On the other hand, if you savor an expensive steak--love to cut into it and just watch the medium rare juices run, a grass fed steak will grossly disappoint you. The incomparable aroma and flavor of a rare prime rib, sliced off the roast at your table, won't work with grass fed beef.
It all depends on whether you merely eat, or you dine.
If that's all you eat for, then grass fed beef is for you. If, on the other hand, you dine rather than merely eat--most of the pleasure of eating beef is missing in grass fed. The taste, texture, flavor--and most importantly--tenderness, in beef comes from that last 120 days or so, of the steer's life in the feedlot.
They call it finishing a steer, for a reason. A high energy diet of grain and less roughage, plus less exercise from roaming the range, tenderizes the beef, adds the ribbons of marbling that gives beef its unique taste, texture and flavor. Extended aging of the carcass in the cooler after it is hung, finishes the process.
Grass fed beef is tough and stringy, with much less marbling, as the steers must still roam the range for forage. There is only a limited amount that can be done with cutting and aging of the grass fed carcass. Without the marbling to moisten the meat, no amount of aging or unique cutting will improve it.
If all you eat is hamburger, or long, slow cooked cuts like stew, pot roast or swiss steak, then grass fed beef won't make that much difference--although frankly, even these dishes will be improved with corn fed beef.
On the other hand, if you savor an expensive steak--love to cut into it and just watch the medium rare juices run, a grass fed steak will grossly disappoint you. The incomparable aroma and flavor of a rare prime rib, sliced off the roast at your table, won't work with grass fed beef.
It all depends on whether you merely eat, or you dine.
Monday, August 25, 2008
Wild weather portends early fall, winter
The oldtimers in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains know more about the weather than the professional forecasters.
Because of the spring floods in the Midwest and unseasonably cool weather into June, crops are behind. The corn isn't silking land tasseling on time. Farmers need a warm fall to get a late harvest out of the ground.
August rain and tornados, as we've had in the last two weeks, with temperatures at night dipping down into the 40s in the Rockies, portend snow in September and freezing by early October, according to local lore. Freezing is not all bad--that's how the insects like grasshoppers and bark beetles get their larvae killed, and when the winter's warm, they survive and have a big summer.
This weather pattern, if it develops, is the opposite of what farmers and ranchers need, to get the maximum production out of late-blooming crops and fall grazing. For ranchers to have to start feeding hay early is very costly, and can lead to shortages before the winter is over.
Just as the professional forecasters refuse to stand by their predictions, oldtimers won't guarantee theirs either. Take your pick, as to what kind of fall and winter we're going to have.
There's a 50% chance you'll be right.
Because of the spring floods in the Midwest and unseasonably cool weather into June, crops are behind. The corn isn't silking land tasseling on time. Farmers need a warm fall to get a late harvest out of the ground.
August rain and tornados, as we've had in the last two weeks, with temperatures at night dipping down into the 40s in the Rockies, portend snow in September and freezing by early October, according to local lore. Freezing is not all bad--that's how the insects like grasshoppers and bark beetles get their larvae killed, and when the winter's warm, they survive and have a big summer.
This weather pattern, if it develops, is the opposite of what farmers and ranchers need, to get the maximum production out of late-blooming crops and fall grazing. For ranchers to have to start feeding hay early is very costly, and can lead to shortages before the winter is over.
Just as the professional forecasters refuse to stand by their predictions, oldtimers won't guarantee theirs either. Take your pick, as to what kind of fall and winter we're going to have.
There's a 50% chance you'll be right.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Labor Day another beef opportunity
The last big barbecue of summer occurs over the Labor Day weekend. Some of us brush the snow off the grill and use it year around, but many will put the grill away in the garage until next summer, after the big Labor Day bash.
And what will be on most people's Labor Day grill? Beef, by an overwhelming margin. There may be a few pork brats or ribs on a corner of the grill, but steaks or hamburgers have the center. A few folks barbecue chicken or fish, but it takes special handling and does not absorb the smoke and flavor like red meat.
The beef industry counts on holidays each year, and makes them an integral part of the annual promotion campaign. Beef for Father's Day, Prime Rib for Christmas, grilling cuts on summer holidays Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day. Wholesale and retail beef clearance is heaviest on these events, and the sales numbers prove the industry's wisdom in its holiday promotional emphasis.
Feedlots get more cattle ready a few weeks before these holidays, as packers increase slaughter rates in anticipation of big holiday beef sales. Supermarkets clear more room in the meatcase, to increase the beef offerings at holidays. The trend is well known, and percolates throughout the business.
Enjoy three days off this coming weekend. But be secure in the knowledge that an industry has worked hard to make your celebration possible--and in fact, counts on it.
And what will be on most people's Labor Day grill? Beef, by an overwhelming margin. There may be a few pork brats or ribs on a corner of the grill, but steaks or hamburgers have the center. A few folks barbecue chicken or fish, but it takes special handling and does not absorb the smoke and flavor like red meat.
The beef industry counts on holidays each year, and makes them an integral part of the annual promotion campaign. Beef for Father's Day, Prime Rib for Christmas, grilling cuts on summer holidays Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day. Wholesale and retail beef clearance is heaviest on these events, and the sales numbers prove the industry's wisdom in its holiday promotional emphasis.
Feedlots get more cattle ready a few weeks before these holidays, as packers increase slaughter rates in anticipation of big holiday beef sales. Supermarkets clear more room in the meatcase, to increase the beef offerings at holidays. The trend is well known, and percolates throughout the business.
Enjoy three days off this coming weekend. But be secure in the knowledge that an industry has worked hard to make your celebration possible--and in fact, counts on it.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Food price inflation caused by ethanol
The competition for the natiion's corn crop between livestock, food manufacturers and ethanol producers has driven the price through the stratosphere. Corn briefly hit over $7 a bushel and still hovers around $6. To farmers used to $2 corn, this is seriious stuff.
Corn thickeners and sweeteners are used in commercial baked goods, soft drinks and other beverages and candy bars. All are rising in price due to the corn price inflation. Hershey just announced an 11% across the board increase in candy bar prices. This is the third one this year.
Hog, poultry and beef producers all are formulating alternative rations for their livestock, with less corn and more less expensive feedstuffs. Meat prices are high, which should lead to big producer profits, but the high cost of corn and energy makes profits elusive for many farmers and ranchers.
This is all because the federal government subsidizes ethanol to the tune of over 50 cents a gallon, as well putting price supports under corn to boot. This has created the ethanol industry and created the price-busting competition for corn. The government alone is skewing the economy with its unwise ethanol subsidies.
Ethanol is not the best alternative to gasoline anyway, because it takes as much energy to raise and produce it as it returns. It would be completely uneconomic, except for the government subsidies.
Only a few consumers have flex-fuel vehicles that can take advantage of cheaper ethanol, but everyone has to buy food and pay much higher prices for it--all to underwrite the few who profit from ethanol.
Corn thickeners and sweeteners are used in commercial baked goods, soft drinks and other beverages and candy bars. All are rising in price due to the corn price inflation. Hershey just announced an 11% across the board increase in candy bar prices. This is the third one this year.
Hog, poultry and beef producers all are formulating alternative rations for their livestock, with less corn and more less expensive feedstuffs. Meat prices are high, which should lead to big producer profits, but the high cost of corn and energy makes profits elusive for many farmers and ranchers.
This is all because the federal government subsidizes ethanol to the tune of over 50 cents a gallon, as well putting price supports under corn to boot. This has created the ethanol industry and created the price-busting competition for corn. The government alone is skewing the economy with its unwise ethanol subsidies.
Ethanol is not the best alternative to gasoline anyway, because it takes as much energy to raise and produce it as it returns. It would be completely uneconomic, except for the government subsidies.
Only a few consumers have flex-fuel vehicles that can take advantage of cheaper ethanol, but everyone has to buy food and pay much higher prices for it--all to underwrite the few who profit from ethanol.
Friday, August 22, 2008
On-feed report encourages cattlemen
Today's U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) monthly Cattle-on-Feed Report shows very tight cattle numbers in the nation's feedlots, much smaller than a year ago at this time. The veracity of these reports is somewhat open to question, as they are not actual counts of cattle, but computer simulations and estimates--but the traders at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange treat them like the Holy Grail, so they are influential.
This should mean higher cash fed cattle prices through this fall, which is very good news for cattlemen. As this blog has written before, however, Merc traders only make money off volatility and don't care if the market goes up or down--as long as it moves. That's how their sole source of income--trading commissions--are generated. You can bet that they are figuring out all the angles as I write, along with their Big Three Packer and Feedlot customers, to feather their own nests.
This latest report is good news for cattlemen as long as they figure out how to make it that way. The interests of cattlemen who actually make their living that way, and the Merc traders, frequently diverge. In any case, one considers Merc traders a reliable friend at their own peril.
In a bigger context, it does mean retail meat prices will stay high this fall and winter, and this will percolate to some extent down to individual cattlemen. High corn and energy costs, among other inputs, leave this somewhat of a mixed blessing, but the outlook is much more favorable than what had previously been forecast.
This should mean higher cash fed cattle prices through this fall, which is very good news for cattlemen. As this blog has written before, however, Merc traders only make money off volatility and don't care if the market goes up or down--as long as it moves. That's how their sole source of income--trading commissions--are generated. You can bet that they are figuring out all the angles as I write, along with their Big Three Packer and Feedlot customers, to feather their own nests.
This latest report is good news for cattlemen as long as they figure out how to make it that way. The interests of cattlemen who actually make their living that way, and the Merc traders, frequently diverge. In any case, one considers Merc traders a reliable friend at their own peril.
In a bigger context, it does mean retail meat prices will stay high this fall and winter, and this will percolate to some extent down to individual cattlemen. High corn and energy costs, among other inputs, leave this somewhat of a mixed blessing, but the outlook is much more favorable than what had previously been forecast.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Hard money chases commodities
As frequently happens in shaky economic times, when safety questions surface about popular traditional investments, "hard" money investments lean toward commodities, which allegedly are backed by actual metal, agricultural products or live animals like cattle and pigs. How sound this is probably is open to question, as well, but a fact nonetheless, in times like this.
This additional money flowing into commodity contracts at the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange skews the market, and leaves each commodity open to speculation, rather than pure supply-and-demand economics.
Along with the weak dollar internationally, this speculative investment is a major factor in the huge price run-up in corn, wheat and other grain futures, as well as the cattle and hogs who then are fed the corn. This creates an artificial market, that makes it harder for the producers of the actual commodities themselves, and the buyer-users, to make a profit.
An actual farmer or rancher, who makes his living this way, as opposed to an investor or speculator in commodities futures contracts, is the victim of the market flim-flam.
If those making the public outcry about speculation in the commodities markets including oil, were really concerned about who was aggrieved, rather than only making political hay, they would look seriously at the problems this causes individual farmers and ranchers.
That'll be the day!
This additional money flowing into commodity contracts at the Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange skews the market, and leaves each commodity open to speculation, rather than pure supply-and-demand economics.
Along with the weak dollar internationally, this speculative investment is a major factor in the huge price run-up in corn, wheat and other grain futures, as well as the cattle and hogs who then are fed the corn. This creates an artificial market, that makes it harder for the producers of the actual commodities themselves, and the buyer-users, to make a profit.
An actual farmer or rancher, who makes his living this way, as opposed to an investor or speculator in commodities futures contracts, is the victim of the market flim-flam.
If those making the public outcry about speculation in the commodities markets including oil, were really concerned about who was aggrieved, rather than only making political hay, they would look seriously at the problems this causes individual farmers and ranchers.
That'll be the day!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
A little rain makes all the diff . . .
Driving from Denver to Cheyenne, Wyoming today for the Western Video Market sale, you could see the results of the recent week-and-a-half of rain we've had. Those normally brown rolling hills as you leave Colorado and enter Wyoming had twinges of green. Not deep, solid green by any means, but enough green for optimism.
For a cowman, they were plenty green, to mean grass for fall grazing. It showed too, at the overflowing new ballroom of Little America in Cheyenne, where cattlemen and their ladies were almost in line to buy and sell calves on the video sale. Prices were strong, and auctioneers Lex and Shawn Madden of the Torrington Livestock Auction kept the sale moving smartly.
You can never say definitively what might have been, had it not rained, but with over 40 years experience at attending such events, talking around and feeling the pulse of the crowd--the rain made a difference. The buyers were more ready to buy and pay the price to get the good ones.
This is the very essence and foundation of the cattle business. You had cow-calf producers there, selling their year's crop, and order buyers and short term graziers, buying calves for fall grazing and then into the feedlot. This was the heart of true grass country, where the very best commercial cattle come from--and you could truly say, that steak on your plate starts here.
Some 80,000 head of feeder cattle changed hands in this two-day sale, all on video and sold primarily over satellite TV, with many buyers bidding from their living room and calling in their bids on an 800 number.
Such is the state of the modern cattle industry.
For a cowman, they were plenty green, to mean grass for fall grazing. It showed too, at the overflowing new ballroom of Little America in Cheyenne, where cattlemen and their ladies were almost in line to buy and sell calves on the video sale. Prices were strong, and auctioneers Lex and Shawn Madden of the Torrington Livestock Auction kept the sale moving smartly.
You can never say definitively what might have been, had it not rained, but with over 40 years experience at attending such events, talking around and feeling the pulse of the crowd--the rain made a difference. The buyers were more ready to buy and pay the price to get the good ones.
This is the very essence and foundation of the cattle business. You had cow-calf producers there, selling their year's crop, and order buyers and short term graziers, buying calves for fall grazing and then into the feedlot. This was the heart of true grass country, where the very best commercial cattle come from--and you could truly say, that steak on your plate starts here.
Some 80,000 head of feeder cattle changed hands in this two-day sale, all on video and sold primarily over satellite TV, with many buyers bidding from their living room and calling in their bids on an 800 number.
Such is the state of the modern cattle industry.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Cow chases black bear in Colorado
As any good rancher or farmer can tell you, watching animals is endlessly fascinating and a frequent source of surprise.
That was the case Sunday in Hygiene, Colorado, a rapidly suburbanizing outpost in the foothills west of Longmont. A family there has a cow in a small pasture named Apple, which they describe as more of a pet. She's named Apple, because she loves to eat the fruit off the trees surrounding her pasture.
Sunday, neighbor Penny Cox photographed a black bear in the apple tree the cow eats from. It came down, and the cow and bear went nose-to-nose in a playful pose. Apple then chased the bear the length of the pasture, as the bear ran away. Cox was unable to say if Apple chased the bear away because it was in her tree, or if she just enjoyed playing with him.
Colorado has increasingly serious problems with a large black bear population, since several years ago the voters inexplicably passed a state constitutional amendment, no less, outlawing the spring hunting season on black bears. The population therefore, has grown rapidly, and black bear sightings are increasingly common along the urban front range of Colorado, in areas near the mountains like Hygiene.
In dry years, like this one, when the wild food supply is weak, the heavy population of black bears increasingly seek out garbage cans and other food on the front range, before heading off into winter hibernation. The antics of black bears are adorable, but one forgets that they are vicious, wild animals at their own peril.
The law of unintended consequences has definitely followed the ill-advised sellout by Colorado voters to the animal rights extremists a few years ago.
That was the case Sunday in Hygiene, Colorado, a rapidly suburbanizing outpost in the foothills west of Longmont. A family there has a cow in a small pasture named Apple, which they describe as more of a pet. She's named Apple, because she loves to eat the fruit off the trees surrounding her pasture.
Sunday, neighbor Penny Cox photographed a black bear in the apple tree the cow eats from. It came down, and the cow and bear went nose-to-nose in a playful pose. Apple then chased the bear the length of the pasture, as the bear ran away. Cox was unable to say if Apple chased the bear away because it was in her tree, or if she just enjoyed playing with him.
Colorado has increasingly serious problems with a large black bear population, since several years ago the voters inexplicably passed a state constitutional amendment, no less, outlawing the spring hunting season on black bears. The population therefore, has grown rapidly, and black bear sightings are increasingly common along the urban front range of Colorado, in areas near the mountains like Hygiene.
In dry years, like this one, when the wild food supply is weak, the heavy population of black bears increasingly seek out garbage cans and other food on the front range, before heading off into winter hibernation. The antics of black bears are adorable, but one forgets that they are vicious, wild animals at their own peril.
The law of unintended consequences has definitely followed the ill-advised sellout by Colorado voters to the animal rights extremists a few years ago.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Ag sees mixed Hurricane Faye blessing.
Hurricanes have a very negative image to most people, due to the destructiveness and damage they leave in their path.
In the epicenter and immediate area, this certainly is the case. The inconvenience of battening down the hatches and hiding out in a safe place, as well as repairing any damage afterwards, is certainlly not to be sneezed at. The danger is real.
That said, for agriculture, hurricanes are frequently beneficial. They bring moisture to a wide area and move warm air to northern climates. In the immediate area, too much rain in too brief a period of time can be destructive, or at best, do very little good. Right at the epicenter, vegetation gets blown out and destoryed.
But in the much wider swath of regions in its path, hurricanes break droughts, fill lakes, streams and arroyos, and bring moist, warm air that allows crops to grow and mature, leading to a more bountiful harvest. Grasses grow and are rejuvenated, feeding livestock for months to come.
Hurricanes are a fact of nature, and really cannot be controlled one way or the other.
But for agriculture, in a long term perspecive, they are necessary and have some beneficial effects. Hurricane Faye will probably prove to be no different--a mixed blessing.
In the epicenter and immediate area, this certainly is the case. The inconvenience of battening down the hatches and hiding out in a safe place, as well as repairing any damage afterwards, is certainlly not to be sneezed at. The danger is real.
That said, for agriculture, hurricanes are frequently beneficial. They bring moisture to a wide area and move warm air to northern climates. In the immediate area, too much rain in too brief a period of time can be destructive, or at best, do very little good. Right at the epicenter, vegetation gets blown out and destoryed.
But in the much wider swath of regions in its path, hurricanes break droughts, fill lakes, streams and arroyos, and bring moist, warm air that allows crops to grow and mature, leading to a more bountiful harvest. Grasses grow and are rejuvenated, feeding livestock for months to come.
Hurricanes are a fact of nature, and really cannot be controlled one way or the other.
But for agriculture, in a long term perspecive, they are necessary and have some beneficial effects. Hurricane Faye will probably prove to be no different--a mixed blessing.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Miniature cattle sweeping rural America?
To read the recent Wall Street Journal front page article, you'd swear that miniature cattle and other animals are sweeping America. They are cute, out in somebody's two-acre front yard, but their economic practicality in mass production agriculture is open to serious question--and why they're not a big future trend.
In the cattle industry, meat packing plants is set up for carcasses to "fit the box." The whole production line is set up to handle carcasses that weigh 1100-1200 pounds, and when cut up into primal cuts, fill boxes that stack conveniently on pallets and into trucks. There's big discounts for any that are significantly lighter or heavier than this, as they must be hand-processed, don't fit the box, and therefore much more costly to handle.
A Miniature Hereford or Lowline (as miniature Angus are called) carcass would be lucky to hit 600 pounds, dripping wet. Since meat is sold by the pound, if you're serious about producing meat, obviously the return is much higher if you produce more--not less--of it.
About the best you can say is that if you live on a 2-10 acre "ranchette," little cattle or sheep are a lot easier to handle on your little ranch. But short of growing marijuana, it would be hard to turn a profit on 2-10 acress, no matter what you did. Little cattle that look just like the big ones make a nice decoration on your place.
You might make a little money selling little cattle to other people with little ranches, but as a major economic contributor to feeding America's teeming masses--that's not in the cards with miniature livestock.
In the cattle industry, meat packing plants is set up for carcasses to "fit the box." The whole production line is set up to handle carcasses that weigh 1100-1200 pounds, and when cut up into primal cuts, fill boxes that stack conveniently on pallets and into trucks. There's big discounts for any that are significantly lighter or heavier than this, as they must be hand-processed, don't fit the box, and therefore much more costly to handle.
A Miniature Hereford or Lowline (as miniature Angus are called) carcass would be lucky to hit 600 pounds, dripping wet. Since meat is sold by the pound, if you're serious about producing meat, obviously the return is much higher if you produce more--not less--of it.
About the best you can say is that if you live on a 2-10 acre "ranchette," little cattle or sheep are a lot easier to handle on your little ranch. But short of growing marijuana, it would be hard to turn a profit on 2-10 acress, no matter what you did. Little cattle that look just like the big ones make a nice decoration on your place.
You might make a little money selling little cattle to other people with little ranches, but as a major economic contributor to feeding America's teeming masses--that's not in the cards with miniature livestock.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Big Boys At Merc trash cash cattle
Today the Big Boys at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, who can corner the cattle futures market on a whim, did it again today, driving cattle futures down, and cash fed cattle with it.
Fed cattle at the feedlots stalled out at $100, even with last week, and packers quickly lowered their bids to $98-$99, to end trading for the week. Cattle are in short supply and prices are headed higher--what to do?
Call an all-commodities melt down, dragging down cattle wth it. That's what the Merc did, to generate trading commissions and preserve the precious volatiity that keeps them coming.
There was no available reason for cash cattle to drop, so one had to be manufactured at the Merc, where actual living breathing cattle aren't traded, only paper contracts. The Big 3 packers and a few large scale feeder allies took charge, to do on the Merc what they couldn't do at the feedlot, based on short cattle supplies and burgeoning Labor Day holiday weekend demand for fed cattle.
Fed cattle at the feedlots stalled out at $100, even with last week, and packers quickly lowered their bids to $98-$99, to end trading for the week. Cattle are in short supply and prices are headed higher--what to do?
Call an all-commodities melt down, dragging down cattle wth it. That's what the Merc did, to generate trading commissions and preserve the precious volatiity that keeps them coming.
There was no available reason for cash cattle to drop, so one had to be manufactured at the Merc, where actual living breathing cattle aren't traded, only paper contracts. The Big 3 packers and a few large scale feeder allies took charge, to do on the Merc what they couldn't do at the feedlot, based on short cattle supplies and burgeoning Labor Day holiday weekend demand for fed cattle.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Volatile hogs keep meat prices flexible
Hogs reproduce in litters of up to 10-12 baby pigs, several times a year. Consequently, the pork market is one of constant volatility, since the supply can expand and contract so rapidly.
Cows have one calf a year, so it takes several years to breed a glut of beef or milk. You can do it in 90 days or so with pigs. Chickens are much more controllable, since you only have to actually hatch the number of fertilized eggs you need at any given time. The big factory chicken outfits like Tyson and Perdue have the market cornered, and as a practical matter, you can't even get in the business without buying fertilized eggs to hatch from them--with a contract to sell the chickens back to them at a certain age.
Pigs are nearly the same, since Smithfield and Seaboard have the market pretty well cornered in hogs too. Cattle don't lend themselves to such rigid control, as they graze on grasslands that really aren't good for anything else, and take a lot longer to bring to market.
2008 has been a volatile year in the hog business. Record exports overseas have kept the market from crashing altogether, because U.S. farmers have shelled out pigs in record numbers. Retail pork prices are down, compared to beef and chicken, but are still largely at profitable levels because of foreign sales, keeping the domestic market from being glutted.
Retail beef prices are very high compared to pork or chicken, but kept from going even higher by the competition from other meats..
Cows have one calf a year, so it takes several years to breed a glut of beef or milk. You can do it in 90 days or so with pigs. Chickens are much more controllable, since you only have to actually hatch the number of fertilized eggs you need at any given time. The big factory chicken outfits like Tyson and Perdue have the market cornered, and as a practical matter, you can't even get in the business without buying fertilized eggs to hatch from them--with a contract to sell the chickens back to them at a certain age.
Pigs are nearly the same, since Smithfield and Seaboard have the market pretty well cornered in hogs too. Cattle don't lend themselves to such rigid control, as they graze on grasslands that really aren't good for anything else, and take a lot longer to bring to market.
2008 has been a volatile year in the hog business. Record exports overseas have kept the market from crashing altogether, because U.S. farmers have shelled out pigs in record numbers. Retail pork prices are down, compared to beef and chicken, but are still largely at profitable levels because of foreign sales, keeping the domestic market from being glutted.
Retail beef prices are very high compared to pork or chicken, but kept from going even higher by the competition from other meats..
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Take "organic and natural" labels cautiously
As a marketing strategem, organic produce, meat and other products are a natural. Whether or not they are actually 100% what they say they are, is a totally different matter.
"Organic" and "natural" products are certainly more expensive, and almost certainly, more profitable for the retailer, processor and grower. But you have to dig deep and read the FDA and USDA regulations governing them very carefully. What you'll mainly discern is that there are only shades of difference between regular, ordinary produce or meat, and the higher priced organic--and there may, in fact, be no difference at all.
For years, there was a major line of demarcation in the produce department of the typical supermarket between the brightly colored, fresh, plump regular produce, and the smaller, browner, spotted organic stuff. To buy organic, you were sacrificing freshness, eye appeal and money.
The gap has narrowed in recent years, so there is less visual difference between regular and organic, as you walk down the supermarket aisle. Whether there is sufficient quality difference to justify the higher price, is open to interpretation and personal preference.
USDA and FDA regulations allow a certain amount of what many would see as non-organic practices go into the production of organic products, while non-organic produce could well have been raised, for all practical intent, organically. It is a fine line.
There is also a certain amount of fraud, real or unintentional, that creeps into the produce section as relates to organics. Whose to say, that in a dire moment to fill a display and get your shift over with, a few non-organic apples don't get put in the wrong bin?
We were reminded of this as organic grocer Whole Foods was found this week to have stocked Nebraska Beef hamburger, which almost certainly did not meet the standards for organic. It had to initiate a recall, in fact, a grossly embarassing event for a supposedly superior, ultra-healthy, organic grocer.
Common sense, which is actually very uncommon, would dictate that you take organic labels with a grain of salt, despite your high blood pressure.
"Organic" and "natural" products are certainly more expensive, and almost certainly, more profitable for the retailer, processor and grower. But you have to dig deep and read the FDA and USDA regulations governing them very carefully. What you'll mainly discern is that there are only shades of difference between regular, ordinary produce or meat, and the higher priced organic--and there may, in fact, be no difference at all.
For years, there was a major line of demarcation in the produce department of the typical supermarket between the brightly colored, fresh, plump regular produce, and the smaller, browner, spotted organic stuff. To buy organic, you were sacrificing freshness, eye appeal and money.
The gap has narrowed in recent years, so there is less visual difference between regular and organic, as you walk down the supermarket aisle. Whether there is sufficient quality difference to justify the higher price, is open to interpretation and personal preference.
USDA and FDA regulations allow a certain amount of what many would see as non-organic practices go into the production of organic products, while non-organic produce could well have been raised, for all practical intent, organically. It is a fine line.
There is also a certain amount of fraud, real or unintentional, that creeps into the produce section as relates to organics. Whose to say, that in a dire moment to fill a display and get your shift over with, a few non-organic apples don't get put in the wrong bin?
We were reminded of this as organic grocer Whole Foods was found this week to have stocked Nebraska Beef hamburger, which almost certainly did not meet the standards for organic. It had to initiate a recall, in fact, a grossly embarassing event for a supposedly superior, ultra-healthy, organic grocer.
Common sense, which is actually very uncommon, would dictate that you take organic labels with a grain of salt, despite your high blood pressure.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Pros consider corn data unsurprising
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) sets itself up as the arbiter of farm commodity prices, whether intentionally or not.
It's wild guesstimates of the size of a corn crop or the cattle on feed regularly drive futures prices on the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange up and down like a yo-yo. Traders, who only make money by generating commissions on the buying and selling of futures contracts, attach themselves to the USDA data like it was the holy grail and milk it for all the volatility it can. Commissions don't come on a calm, stable, steady market--it takes volatility, whether genuine or not, to earn futures traders a living.
Today USDA released the first crop size estimates of this season that featured actual in-the-field counts of crops and their condition. Prior estimates were strictly done statiscally, from computers in headquarters in Washington D.C. It makes sense that actualac count-based data, as opposed to computer simulations, would come closer to the truth.
This latest report shows that spring flooding in the corn belt has not appreciably affected the corn crop, and that quantities likely to be harvested will be sufficient to meet both livestock feed, and ethanol, needs. Corn futures have recently dropped like a rock, as this reality sunk in, before rallying modestly today when the actual data came out.
The rapid inflation in food prices has been fed largely by fears of a high-priced, stunted corn crop, as corn sweeteners and thickeners are in most packaged foods and soft drinks. Corn is still higher than any year in recent memory, but has backed off from the $7 a bushel level, at least.
High corn prices have made it tough for livestock and poultry producers to make a living feeding it to their animals, and send feeders scrambling for alternate rations. Things aren't so rosy for ethanol producers, either, as high corn prices have made the profitability of ethanol questionable too--even with over 50 cents a gallon in federal subsidies.
Once again, we're seeing the results of government interference in free market economics with the flawed data it generates and subsidies favoring one commodity over another. That's why ag markets are screwed up.
It's wild guesstimates of the size of a corn crop or the cattle on feed regularly drive futures prices on the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange up and down like a yo-yo. Traders, who only make money by generating commissions on the buying and selling of futures contracts, attach themselves to the USDA data like it was the holy grail and milk it for all the volatility it can. Commissions don't come on a calm, stable, steady market--it takes volatility, whether genuine or not, to earn futures traders a living.
Today USDA released the first crop size estimates of this season that featured actual in-the-field counts of crops and their condition. Prior estimates were strictly done statiscally, from computers in headquarters in Washington D.C. It makes sense that actualac count-based data, as opposed to computer simulations, would come closer to the truth.
This latest report shows that spring flooding in the corn belt has not appreciably affected the corn crop, and that quantities likely to be harvested will be sufficient to meet both livestock feed, and ethanol, needs. Corn futures have recently dropped like a rock, as this reality sunk in, before rallying modestly today when the actual data came out.
The rapid inflation in food prices has been fed largely by fears of a high-priced, stunted corn crop, as corn sweeteners and thickeners are in most packaged foods and soft drinks. Corn is still higher than any year in recent memory, but has backed off from the $7 a bushel level, at least.
High corn prices have made it tough for livestock and poultry producers to make a living feeding it to their animals, and send feeders scrambling for alternate rations. Things aren't so rosy for ethanol producers, either, as high corn prices have made the profitability of ethanol questionable too--even with over 50 cents a gallon in federal subsidies.
Once again, we're seeing the results of government interference in free market economics with the flawed data it generates and subsidies favoring one commodity over another. That's why ag markets are screwed up.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Whole Foods beef recall: organic and natural?
Whole Foods, the expensive, yuppie organic and natural foods supermarket chain, has recalled ground beef it purchased from Nebraska Beef. Just even needing a recall at all raises eyebrows about Whole Foods, which looks down its nose at mass market grocers and the mass-produced foods they sell--allegedly full of preservatives, hormones, growth promotants and unhealthy chemicals.
Whole Foods talks about the free range, grass fed, natural, organic meats it sells, but obviously sneaks a little bottom-feeding, factory-produced hamburger into the meat case too.
You see, Nebraska Beef is what the industry calls a cow killer--when old dairy cows and beef cows can no longer produce calves or milk after 8 years or so, they are shipped for slaughter to plants like Nebraska Beef that specialize in cow processing. There is little way to tell if animals this old are organic or natural, like you can with younger animals.
Rather than even worrying about producing the higher-dollar primal cuts of beef off the cows, they grind up the whole carcass--producing the least expensive hamburger for the school lunch program, military bases and other government feeding programs, as well as fast food restaurants.
The better grades of ground beef, are steak trim from USDA select and choice carcasses, that went mainly into primal cuts for steaks, roasts, etc. The clear implication is that this quality, and greater, is what they sell at fancy prices at Whole Foods.
Obviously not, since Whole Foods has had to sheepishly take part in the Nebraska Beef recall.
The truth is, there is nothing wrong with non-organic, non-natural beef. Whole Foods is admitting as much, by sneaking it into their stores. Nebraska Beef is a reputable ground beef producer, who frankly has been victimized by USDA's policy of slack meat inspections, and then making the producer pay when their laxity gets caught.
E. Coli is a very weak pathogen, and easily killed in normal cooking of ground beef. It is poor cooking technique, not the beef, that is the cause of this recall. But more rigorous USDA meat plant inspections would have caught the problem, before it got out to consumers, too.
The out-and-out hypocrites in the whole mess is Whole Foods, who has been hoodwinking the unsuspecting, trusting public, which has paid them handsomely for years for an allegedly better product. But it wasn't.
Many food industry experts would tell you that this is common procedure at so-called "organic, natural" merchants like Whole Foods. Just a word to the wise.
Whole Foods talks about the free range, grass fed, natural, organic meats it sells, but obviously sneaks a little bottom-feeding, factory-produced hamburger into the meat case too.
You see, Nebraska Beef is what the industry calls a cow killer--when old dairy cows and beef cows can no longer produce calves or milk after 8 years or so, they are shipped for slaughter to plants like Nebraska Beef that specialize in cow processing. There is little way to tell if animals this old are organic or natural, like you can with younger animals.
Rather than even worrying about producing the higher-dollar primal cuts of beef off the cows, they grind up the whole carcass--producing the least expensive hamburger for the school lunch program, military bases and other government feeding programs, as well as fast food restaurants.
The better grades of ground beef, are steak trim from USDA select and choice carcasses, that went mainly into primal cuts for steaks, roasts, etc. The clear implication is that this quality, and greater, is what they sell at fancy prices at Whole Foods.
Obviously not, since Whole Foods has had to sheepishly take part in the Nebraska Beef recall.
The truth is, there is nothing wrong with non-organic, non-natural beef. Whole Foods is admitting as much, by sneaking it into their stores. Nebraska Beef is a reputable ground beef producer, who frankly has been victimized by USDA's policy of slack meat inspections, and then making the producer pay when their laxity gets caught.
E. Coli is a very weak pathogen, and easily killed in normal cooking of ground beef. It is poor cooking technique, not the beef, that is the cause of this recall. But more rigorous USDA meat plant inspections would have caught the problem, before it got out to consumers, too.
The out-and-out hypocrites in the whole mess is Whole Foods, who has been hoodwinking the unsuspecting, trusting public, which has paid them handsomely for years for an allegedly better product. But it wasn't.
Many food industry experts would tell you that this is common procedure at so-called "organic, natural" merchants like Whole Foods. Just a word to the wise.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Cattle activity about to pick up
It's endemic in the cattle business that the cows go out to summer grazing about May 1 and not much happens until they come back in again about September 1. Those dates vary a few weeks, one way or the other, according to local customs and moisture conditions, but in a nutshell--that's how things go.
That means that in the next two weeks, local auction markets that took the summer off, or went on an every-other-week schedule for the summer, will be back in business. For cattle traded in the summer on satellite video sales, on-line or through order buyers, delivery dates are about to start.
The whole cycle of cattle marketing is about to begin. Purebred bull, and particularly fall female, auctions on the ranch are starting to be advertised, and breeders are starting to take inventory of what they need to buy or sell. As with every fall, there are some whole-herd dispersion sales, either because the owner is retiring or is going to start over because his current cow herd is fully depreciated for tax purposes.
On the non-purebred side, farmers are starting to look for cattle to put out for fall and winter grazing, either on crop residues like corn stalks or pasture that wasn't harvested for the last cutting of hay.
In the commercial cattle industry, the trend in recent years has been to sell on the summer video sales, where prices are usually higher, for fall delivery. The fall feeder cattle runs through local auction markets have trended smaller as a result.
But this season in many ways is the start of a new year for cattlemen, when some livestock depart and some new ones come in, and the whole production cycle starts all over again. Let the fun begin.
That means that in the next two weeks, local auction markets that took the summer off, or went on an every-other-week schedule for the summer, will be back in business. For cattle traded in the summer on satellite video sales, on-line or through order buyers, delivery dates are about to start.
The whole cycle of cattle marketing is about to begin. Purebred bull, and particularly fall female, auctions on the ranch are starting to be advertised, and breeders are starting to take inventory of what they need to buy or sell. As with every fall, there are some whole-herd dispersion sales, either because the owner is retiring or is going to start over because his current cow herd is fully depreciated for tax purposes.
On the non-purebred side, farmers are starting to look for cattle to put out for fall and winter grazing, either on crop residues like corn stalks or pasture that wasn't harvested for the last cutting of hay.
In the commercial cattle industry, the trend in recent years has been to sell on the summer video sales, where prices are usually higher, for fall delivery. The fall feeder cattle runs through local auction markets have trended smaller as a result.
But this season in many ways is the start of a new year for cattlemen, when some livestock depart and some new ones come in, and the whole production cycle starts all over again. Let the fun begin.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
China hides ag problems for Olympics
Like any Communist, Marxist regime, China has terrible food shortages and then gluts, because agriculture does not lend itself to centralized government planning, price controls and the lack of incentive for farmers to produce.
Why grow any more food than what your family will eat? If there is no profit motive for doing so, production goes down and the government winds up with public starvation and food shortages, which it frequently covers by importing food from the United States and other free enterprise countries where they grow a surplus--in act, as much as they can sell.
Just as the marxist regime in China has shut down factories to try and get a handle on some of the worst air pollution in the world, and put up millions of board feet of plywood masks with pastoral scenes painted on them to cover up the signs of decay and poverty--it has had a record year importing food, so shortages would be masked.
You won't read any of this in the mass media, who want the United States to become a socialist state like China. But agriculture has serious problems in China, all the way from seed and fertilizer availability on the front end, a lazy and unmotivated workforce in the middle, to market and distribution problems on the back end. A nation with the land area and labor force China has, should be producing food surpluses with heavy exports overseas.
Instead, it is hand-to-mouth, day-to-day for a lot of Chinese citizens on getting adequate food to eat, much less a choice to select what they'd like to eat.
Saving face is the number one goal in most Asian nations, and even more so in China. As you watch the nonstop fawning, adoring press coverage of the Olympics, take it with a grain of salt.
Things in China are not a rosy as the mass media is trying hard to make you believe.
Why grow any more food than what your family will eat? If there is no profit motive for doing so, production goes down and the government winds up with public starvation and food shortages, which it frequently covers by importing food from the United States and other free enterprise countries where they grow a surplus--in act, as much as they can sell.
Just as the marxist regime in China has shut down factories to try and get a handle on some of the worst air pollution in the world, and put up millions of board feet of plywood masks with pastoral scenes painted on them to cover up the signs of decay and poverty--it has had a record year importing food, so shortages would be masked.
You won't read any of this in the mass media, who want the United States to become a socialist state like China. But agriculture has serious problems in China, all the way from seed and fertilizer availability on the front end, a lazy and unmotivated workforce in the middle, to market and distribution problems on the back end. A nation with the land area and labor force China has, should be producing food surpluses with heavy exports overseas.
Instead, it is hand-to-mouth, day-to-day for a lot of Chinese citizens on getting adequate food to eat, much less a choice to select what they'd like to eat.
Saving face is the number one goal in most Asian nations, and even more so in China. As you watch the nonstop fawning, adoring press coverage of the Olympics, take it with a grain of salt.
Things in China are not a rosy as the mass media is trying hard to make you believe.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
U.S. beef sells despite poliitcal smoke screen
The latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) figures on exports of U.S. beef show that totals for last month are back even with how they were five years ago, before the overblown Mad Cow Disease (BSE) scare.
Evem South Korea, where extremists egged on by U.S. vegetarians and animal rightists took to the streets to protest U.S. beef, is back to levels of purchases from five years ago. The beef obviously sells in U.S. tourist hotels and restaurants, as well as to Korean consumers, or they wouldn't import so much. There is no where for the beef to go, and no one to pay for it, if someone isn't buying it.
All the hue and cry about tainted U.S. beef being so ruined by BSE that no one would buy it, was obviously a smoke screen masking other, hidden political agendas.
U.S. beef is a quality product, far superior in taste, tenderness and texture to grass fed beef from places like Australia and New Zealand, and when it is exposed to consumers who can afford it, they will buy it.
As long as international politics and personal political agendas can be kept out of the way--a big IF--the future for U.S. beef in foreign markets is rosy indeed. But for the last five years we've seen the fragile state that is foreign trade, and the industry cannot always control that.
The old saw is "make hay while the sun shines." That couldn't be more true of U.S. beef exports, so the industry must maximize the opportunities while it's in a window of opportunity that allows it to do so.
Evem South Korea, where extremists egged on by U.S. vegetarians and animal rightists took to the streets to protest U.S. beef, is back to levels of purchases from five years ago. The beef obviously sells in U.S. tourist hotels and restaurants, as well as to Korean consumers, or they wouldn't import so much. There is no where for the beef to go, and no one to pay for it, if someone isn't buying it.
All the hue and cry about tainted U.S. beef being so ruined by BSE that no one would buy it, was obviously a smoke screen masking other, hidden political agendas.
U.S. beef is a quality product, far superior in taste, tenderness and texture to grass fed beef from places like Australia and New Zealand, and when it is exposed to consumers who can afford it, they will buy it.
As long as international politics and personal political agendas can be kept out of the way--a big IF--the future for U.S. beef in foreign markets is rosy indeed. But for the last five years we've seen the fragile state that is foreign trade, and the industry cannot always control that.
The old saw is "make hay while the sun shines." That couldn't be more true of U.S. beef exports, so the industry must maximize the opportunities while it's in a window of opportunity that allows it to do so.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
DOHA tariff collapse costly to agriculture
Apparently the so-called DOHA round of world trade negotiations have collapsed, mostly because the booming countries of China and India have declined to go along.
The main goal was to eliminate rich government subsidies and tariffs that protected agricultural goods, opening new markets to those like the U.S., that had great production capacity and could market the crops overseas. Just like in the U.S., agriculture is a relatively minor part of the economy in many nations, and the best way to keep farmers from erupting is to buy them off with subsidies and tariffs on foreign goods.
This is economically inefficient, and actually quite costly to the free flow of goods among countries. Agricultural products are among the most traded--and needed--in the world economy. For the United States, ag products are among the most eminently exportable and profitable items for the world market.
Where limited negotiatiions have succeeded in eliminating trade barriers, great profits have been made in exporting U.S. wheat, beef, citrus, pork, poultry and other commodities. This can also have the effect of lowering food prices for U.S. consumers, as some of farmer's income needs are met overseas.
Political rivalries and domestic politics keep countries from being able to lower trade barriers, and that's what sank the DOHA round of trade talks. India and China may be booming now, but the day will come when things cool off, as they inevitably do, and they suddenly need to import commodities from other countries.
That's when they may rue the day they let the DOHA talks collapse.
The main goal was to eliminate rich government subsidies and tariffs that protected agricultural goods, opening new markets to those like the U.S., that had great production capacity and could market the crops overseas. Just like in the U.S., agriculture is a relatively minor part of the economy in many nations, and the best way to keep farmers from erupting is to buy them off with subsidies and tariffs on foreign goods.
This is economically inefficient, and actually quite costly to the free flow of goods among countries. Agricultural products are among the most traded--and needed--in the world economy. For the United States, ag products are among the most eminently exportable and profitable items for the world market.
Where limited negotiatiions have succeeded in eliminating trade barriers, great profits have been made in exporting U.S. wheat, beef, citrus, pork, poultry and other commodities. This can also have the effect of lowering food prices for U.S. consumers, as some of farmer's income needs are met overseas.
Political rivalries and domestic politics keep countries from being able to lower trade barriers, and that's what sank the DOHA round of trade talks. India and China may be booming now, but the day will come when things cool off, as they inevitably do, and they suddenly need to import commodities from other countries.
That's when they may rue the day they let the DOHA talks collapse.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Farmers learn not to count chickens too early
High grain prices this last spring and into the early summer had prognosticators asking for windfall profits taxes on farmers.
The only problem, as any veteran farmer knows, is that the crop was barely in the ground, much less grown and harvested. That's always when the best prices are--when you don't have anything ready to sell.
So it is, that corn prices have dropped a dollar, and other crops like wheat and barley are off their highs too. As reality sets in, like drought, corn borers and rust, flooding, scorching temperatures, early frost--prices come back to earth. By the time the crop is actually harvested and put in the grain bin, farmers are ready to settle for just a profit margin at all, much less a big windfall.
This year will undoubtedly prove to be no exception, as late August rolls around, and the harvest begins.
Agriculture is a risky business at best, and good years are usually offset by bad ones. There are much more lucrative industries than agriculture.
The profits are in things like love of the land, the independence and the rural lifestyle. Things you can't deposit in the bank, but for many, outweigh dollars-and-cents considerations alone.
The only problem, as any veteran farmer knows, is that the crop was barely in the ground, much less grown and harvested. That's always when the best prices are--when you don't have anything ready to sell.
So it is, that corn prices have dropped a dollar, and other crops like wheat and barley are off their highs too. As reality sets in, like drought, corn borers and rust, flooding, scorching temperatures, early frost--prices come back to earth. By the time the crop is actually harvested and put in the grain bin, farmers are ready to settle for just a profit margin at all, much less a big windfall.
This year will undoubtedly prove to be no exception, as late August rolls around, and the harvest begins.
Agriculture is a risky business at best, and good years are usually offset by bad ones. There are much more lucrative industries than agriculture.
The profits are in things like love of the land, the independence and the rural lifestyle. Things you can't deposit in the bank, but for many, outweigh dollars-and-cents considerations alone.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Production agriculture feeds a hungry world
Craft farming and folks who live on a few acres and work in town, but have a big garden and a few animals--God love 'em, because the rural lifestyle was once the backbone of America and a worthy reminant of our society that should be preserved and revered.
That said, what will work for a hands-on, mom-and-pop place, no matter how much love and care goes into each animal and each string bean produced, will not be enough to feed a hungry world or keep the supermarket shelves stocked across the United States.
It's great that upscale folks who can afford it buy all-natural, organic produce and free range chicken, eggs, pork and beef grown without hormones or antibiotics at Whole Foods and the local Farmer's Market. That's what keeps the craft farmers in business.
But we're talking about an America of over 200 million people, which is miniscule compared to the other continents like Asia and Africa. All these people have to eat to stay alive, and the vast quantities of food it takes to do that have to be produced on a massive scale, with modern pest control, weed control, growth promotants like fertilizer, and the mechanical equipment to till vast acreages.
The sheer volume of food needed by this world cannot be produced any other way. It makes a great Saturday Evening Post cover of the local farmer working in his field, to bring produce to the local general store to feed his neighbors. But the reality of what is needed has consigned this idyllic scene to the dustbins of history, except on a very isolated, localized, small scale.
Farmers and ranchers are the original ecologists and environmentalists. They cannot destroy the land, the water and the earth's atmosphere and expect to stay in business. Modern farming techniques are increasingly "green," adding as much back to the soil and water supply as they take out.
The far left likes to romanticize the fiction of buying only locally-grown (to minimize transportation pollution), organic foods, which it tried to promote at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver. When the caterers and other suppliers informed them that they couldn't begin to come up with the massive quantities required to feed that size a group, they backed off into the safe old Al Gore bromide: buy more carbon credits.
If supply is such a serious problem for feeding 50,000 people attending the Democratic convention, then you get the reality of what it's like to feed the multi-millions on the whole earth.
That said, what will work for a hands-on, mom-and-pop place, no matter how much love and care goes into each animal and each string bean produced, will not be enough to feed a hungry world or keep the supermarket shelves stocked across the United States.
It's great that upscale folks who can afford it buy all-natural, organic produce and free range chicken, eggs, pork and beef grown without hormones or antibiotics at Whole Foods and the local Farmer's Market. That's what keeps the craft farmers in business.
But we're talking about an America of over 200 million people, which is miniscule compared to the other continents like Asia and Africa. All these people have to eat to stay alive, and the vast quantities of food it takes to do that have to be produced on a massive scale, with modern pest control, weed control, growth promotants like fertilizer, and the mechanical equipment to till vast acreages.
The sheer volume of food needed by this world cannot be produced any other way. It makes a great Saturday Evening Post cover of the local farmer working in his field, to bring produce to the local general store to feed his neighbors. But the reality of what is needed has consigned this idyllic scene to the dustbins of history, except on a very isolated, localized, small scale.
Farmers and ranchers are the original ecologists and environmentalists. They cannot destroy the land, the water and the earth's atmosphere and expect to stay in business. Modern farming techniques are increasingly "green," adding as much back to the soil and water supply as they take out.
The far left likes to romanticize the fiction of buying only locally-grown (to minimize transportation pollution), organic foods, which it tried to promote at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver. When the caterers and other suppliers informed them that they couldn't begin to come up with the massive quantities required to feed that size a group, they backed off into the safe old Al Gore bromide: buy more carbon credits.
If supply is such a serious problem for feeding 50,000 people attending the Democratic convention, then you get the reality of what it's like to feed the multi-millions on the whole earth.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Cow size an ongoing debate
When the action gets slow, and cattlemen are together with nothing else to do, they debate cow size. Academicians stoke the debate constantly, but little concensus emerges about optimal dimensions.
Larger cows birth calves more easily, but eat more precious grass and can contribute to a trend toward bigger cattle that ultimately "don't fit the box." That's boxed beef, for the uninformed, and too big a ribeye results in cattle that "don't fit the box." There's big penalties from packers for this problem.
Smaller cows can have calving trouble, if bred to too big a bull, but do take less feed. They can also lead to downsizing of a herd, and the penalties from packers are just as severe for cattle that are too small. Packers are looking for an 1100 pound carcass, and little more or less.
There is no ideal size cow, and the ideal differs for where a ranch is located. how rough the terrain is and how severe the weather is. Personal preference, within reason, plays a big role too.
So when you hear the inevitable debate about cow size, realize it's not as simple as it sounds--and probably never going to be resolved to everybody's satisfaction.
Larger cows birth calves more easily, but eat more precious grass and can contribute to a trend toward bigger cattle that ultimately "don't fit the box." That's boxed beef, for the uninformed, and too big a ribeye results in cattle that "don't fit the box." There's big penalties from packers for this problem.
Smaller cows can have calving trouble, if bred to too big a bull, but do take less feed. They can also lead to downsizing of a herd, and the penalties from packers are just as severe for cattle that are too small. Packers are looking for an 1100 pound carcass, and little more or less.
There is no ideal size cow, and the ideal differs for where a ranch is located. how rough the terrain is and how severe the weather is. Personal preference, within reason, plays a big role too.
So when you hear the inevitable debate about cow size, realize it's not as simple as it sounds--and probably never going to be resolved to everybody's satisfaction.
Friday, August 1, 2008
U.S. beef exports back to pre-BSE levels
Proving the maxim that foreign trade is as much about politics as it is scientific fact, consumer demand or economics--U.S. beef exports just this month returned to the levels they were five years ago, before the discovery of a single Mad Cow Disease (BSE) case in the U.S.
Always eager to kick sand in the face of the big, bad United States of America, country after country banned U.S. beef, for the alleged BSE danger. This was naked, crass politics and gross hypocrisy at its worst. The domestic cattle herds of the main banners--Japan and South Korea--have had virtual epidemics of BSE, with over 20 cases each.
The truth is, the countries needed safe, wholesome U.S. beef to purify the domestic beef supply. In truth, each of the three U.S. BSE cases came in dairy cattle imported from Canada to the U.S.--not in the domestic beef cattle herd.
Once proven hypocrites and fools, the countries then claimed they couldn't sell U.S. beef because of public fears of the product. The massive success of selling U.S. beef in these countries, as this latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data shows, overrides all the baloney their governments threw out.
It was the hard line Bush Administration demand that all trade with the U.S. was dependent on their acceptance of U.S. beef, that won the day.
To complete the ephemeral nature of the whole BSE scare, futures traders today at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange drove prices up in both live and feeder cattle contracts, based on the new USDA beef export data. The rise came not from free market count of actual existing cattle in the feedlot, or fewer numbers because of greater beef sales.
It came because traders saw an opporunity to gin up trading commissions and pounced on it. It had nothing to do with actual supply-and-demand economic data. That means, in order to keep trading commissions coming, an offsetting drop in beef futures prices is right around the corner. Cash cattle at the feedlots sold $2-$3 higher to meat packers, after the Merc trading day closed Friday.
Cattle owners should take notice, and not revel too long at their good fortune today. The day of reckoning is coming. Whatever goes up, must come down.
Always eager to kick sand in the face of the big, bad United States of America, country after country banned U.S. beef, for the alleged BSE danger. This was naked, crass politics and gross hypocrisy at its worst. The domestic cattle herds of the main banners--Japan and South Korea--have had virtual epidemics of BSE, with over 20 cases each.
The truth is, the countries needed safe, wholesome U.S. beef to purify the domestic beef supply. In truth, each of the three U.S. BSE cases came in dairy cattle imported from Canada to the U.S.--not in the domestic beef cattle herd.
Once proven hypocrites and fools, the countries then claimed they couldn't sell U.S. beef because of public fears of the product. The massive success of selling U.S. beef in these countries, as this latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data shows, overrides all the baloney their governments threw out.
It was the hard line Bush Administration demand that all trade with the U.S. was dependent on their acceptance of U.S. beef, that won the day.
To complete the ephemeral nature of the whole BSE scare, futures traders today at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange drove prices up in both live and feeder cattle contracts, based on the new USDA beef export data. The rise came not from free market count of actual existing cattle in the feedlot, or fewer numbers because of greater beef sales.
It came because traders saw an opporunity to gin up trading commissions and pounced on it. It had nothing to do with actual supply-and-demand economic data. That means, in order to keep trading commissions coming, an offsetting drop in beef futures prices is right around the corner. Cash cattle at the feedlots sold $2-$3 higher to meat packers, after the Merc trading day closed Friday.
Cattle owners should take notice, and not revel too long at their good fortune today. The day of reckoning is coming. Whatever goes up, must come down.
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