Corn crunch means costliest beef since 1980s

[Newsjock]

Source: Bloomberg News

Meat prices are poised to extend a 14 percent rally this year that drove U.S. retail costs to the highest levels since the 1980s as surging corn futures prevent livestock producers from expanding their herds.

The U.S. cattle herd in July was the smallest since 1973 and the number of breeding hogs last month was near the lowest ever, government data show.

Corn futures jumped to a two-year high Monday and the price of the main feed ingredient is more than 70 percent above the 10-year average.

... On Monday, corn soared 45 cents, the most allowed by the Chicago Board of Trade, to reach $5.7325 a bushel, the highest level since September 2008.

Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2013135360_foodprices12.html

[frazzled]

1. Buy grass-fed beef?

I kind of joke here. But I've noticed the grass-fed beef on sale a lot recently. I actually have to admit I don't care for it: it has a sour kind of taste, and a different texture. Perhaps it's something I'd get used to over time. In the meantime, the other week I passed up the on-sale grass-fed ground beef for the regular ground sirloin (which was actually a bit more pricey, but hey, we were only buying 2/3 of a pound).

[gateley]

3. Here's some info for you --

http://www.johnrobbins.info/blog/grass-fed-beef/

and lots of other sources if you google "is grass fed beef better?". I think the only ones who might differ in their opinion are those representing the corn/feed industry.

[frazzled]

5. I know all that.

I still find the taste and texture of it difficult to adjust to. We eat very little beef. But I bought a grass-fed brisket a few weeks ago to make for the holidays, and I wasn't at all happy with it. Same for hamburgers I've made. I'd rather not eat beef at all than eat something that doesn't taste that good to me. (I didn't eat beef for the five years we lived in New England because it tasted like shit there for some reason.) Why should I get used to a new kind of beef at all? I'd rather just not eat any, which is better for both the environment and my health.

[gateley]

12. That's interesting -- grass fed beef SOUNDS like it would be much more

palatable, don't you think? I don't know if I've ever had it since I don't buy beef in the stores, usually just eat it when I'm in a restaurant.

And you're right, we'd be better off just not eating it.

[hedgehog]

28. If it's not too personal a question, how old are you? Were you raised on corn fed beef?

I've been tracking down free range chicken, grass fed beef and pork lately. I find the corn fed stuff in the grocery store flavorless. The organic stuff tastes like the beef, pork and chicken I remember from years ago. It may be that you've become accustomed to factory beef and organic beef is just too rich for your taste. I'd say organic beef has a touch of the gamey flavor associated with venison. Not everyone likes it.

[frazzled]

31. Let's just say I'm not young

I suppose the preponderance of beef I've eaten in my life has been corn fed, whether industrial, organic, or kosher (I've eaten all kinds). I never buy meat from a regular grocery store or supermarket, and haven't for probably at least 35 years. I purchase only from a butcher or a store like Whole Foods. (Once in a blue moon, from Trader Joe's.) I buy organic or natural chickens only, often free range. I order organic free range turkeys for Thanksgiving. I like them.

I guess I'm just one of those people who doesn't care for the taste of grass-fed beef. I eat just about anything, especially in the vegetable/herb category. So I always wondered why I could not abide the taste of one thing only: cilantro. Honest, it smells like old sweaty gym shoes to me. Then I read in the NYT that the world is divided into two types: those who love cilantro, and those who are made ill by the very smell of it. I am guessing the grass-fed thing may possibly be the same.

[dixiegrrrrl]

36. I ate 100% organic for 8 years,

then was forced by circumstances to eat grocery produce and meats, could taste the difference easily.
The commercial produce had a metallic taste, to me.
Last year we bought a ranch raised half beef, will again this year. They are grass fed, but finished on grain,
then "hung" for about 3 months. The flavor and tenderness is wonderful.
Same with home raised pork I have had.
Downside is you have to have a wad of cash saved to buy a side of beef or hog, but it lasts all year and by next year we will be glad we did it, since the hedge funds have bubbled up the price of commodities.
I personally prefer pork or chicken to beef, Mr. D loves beef, so he gets most of the beef we buy.

[Common Sense Party]

4. Grass-fed is the absolute best. 38 million Argentines can't be wrong.

[Champion Jack]

42. +1,000 Grass fed tastes much better than unhealthy corn fed

Just bought a half of a steer from my local farmer. All grass fed, cut the way I want it, and wrapped works out to $2.20 a lb

[Common Sense Party]

45. Fire up the grill. I'll be right over.

[Courtesy Flush]

18. I agree about the taste

But grass fed beef is much healthier. We have nearly eliminated red meat from our diet, but when we eat beef we avoid corn fed.

Since my wife was diagnosed with cancer our diet has become uber health conscious. You have to adjust your taste buds. Over time you lose your taste for the unhealthy stuff that once seemed so delicious.

Eat your veggies!

[Javaman]

22. What you are tasting is the "gamey" flavor...

Not all grass-fed beef has that flavor.

I buy from two different grass-fed beef ranchers here in Austin.

One is very gamey the other is not.

It has a lot to do with the type of steer they are raising. The non-gamey tasting beef is mostly of the Angus variety.

By the way, you will get that same gamey taste with deer, hog, etc (anything that is hunted)

[Taverner]

38. Yes, it was probably green beef

As in - it hadn't aged enough.

After the cow has been killed, you need to age the meat. With corn fed beef, it doesn't take as long as there is so much bacteria in that meat the aging happens quickly. Grass fed, and its a few more weeks, since there isn't as much bacteria to break it down.

[Javaman]

43. Very good point.

I had completely forgotten about aging. :)

Cheers!

[txaslftist]

33. Corn fed cattle...

who spend a week on grass lose some 80+ percent of the bacteria in their systems, at least according to "Food Inc" a movie I watched a while back.

[eridani]

41. The grass-fed beef I get from Thundering Hooves (Walla Walla, WA) is delish!

Healthier fat profile, the critters eat what their biology suits them for, humane slaughter. Pretty good deal whatever the price.

[NickB79]

46. If I'm paying for grass-fed, I prefer bison over beef anyway. nt

[flvegan]

2. Pity. n/t

[msongs]

6. ummm what happened to "deflation"? hasn't showed up here in so cal nt

[Yeshuah Ben Joseph]

7. Maybe now they can stop putting GMO corn in everything

cows included. Take My word for it, they weren't designed to be corn eaters. Nor were humans, and everyone who has ever looked in the toilet the morning after they ate corn knows this to be true.

[Downwinder]

8. But, there is no inflation.

[RC]

17. We are being lied to.

Keep you grocery receipts and check price creep of the various items. Also notice the size of the product keep getting less. You will have to compute price per ounce to see it.

[onehandle]

9. No! Not my beef! wait... I don't eat beef. nt

[Historic NY]

10. Because they keep making corn fuel from it instead of feed corn.

[Francesca9]

13. Exactly so

[Oldenuff]

11. High Fructose Corn Syrup have anything to do with rising costs for feed corn?

Just wondering if the rush to use cheap High Fructose Corn Syrup to poison consumers with,has lead to a shortage of corn to be used as feed?

[Javaman]

25. Maybe...

but certainly anything containing it will also go up in price.

Corn like any crop is also subject to weather and climate conditions.

I wonder as the climate continues to change, how will that effect corn crop output?

I have to do a little googling to find out the yields for corn for the last 30 years.

Of course I'll have to factor in improved farmer practices, GMO corn, etc. But all things being equal, I wonder if the corn industry has been suffering and per capita loss yield wise?

It would be an interesting study, especially, just a few years ago, the run up in gas prices caused the price of corn harvested to sky rocket as well, thus causing an rise in ethanol.

So much to investigate, so little time.

[izzybeans]

26. Corn yields are down as well

http://www.farmandranchguide.com/articles/2010/10/11/ag_news/regional_news/news21.txt

Add the two together.

A good friend of mine was scrambling to save as much of his corn crop as he could. Probably still is.

[Hubert Flottz]

14. I guess folks on Social Security don't eat beef?

"What inflation? I don't see no inflation!"

[rasputin1952]

15. Just yesterday, the local, (NE), radio was stating a bumper crop in corn

and soy. Weather had a lot to do w/it....when one adds DDGS, which cattle crave after ethanol processing; the only logical conclusion id price manipulation.

[SpiralHawk]

16. Speculators (R) are driving all grain prices sky high

There is money to be made -- and that is really the only true Republicon Family Value...

[pattmarty]

19. Bingo! You were the ONLY one so far to state what (in these times)...........

............should be the obvious cause. Everybody talking about grain fed/grass fed and the MAJOR cause is speculation. Does Ethanol production have a small part in it, sure. The speculative thieves are fucking at it again. Last year, if anyone wants to remember, it was rice.

[SpiralHawk]

30. If one searches about a bit on the net, there is lots of info on Speculators (R)

who are out to make a boodle -- while causing widespread famine and hunger. There's your Republicon Family Pharisee Values in action in the business world. As usual.

[kenfrequed]

29. This is also true.

A few Wallstreet firms did buy the hell out of it. I believe there are also some new rules that allow them to opt out of a purchase as part of the price manipulation scheme.

[madmom]

21. Same here, they talking bumper crops all around in this area.

[NickB79]

24. Looks like corn yields aren't living up to the hype they've been running all summer

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20101008-707955.html

" The U.S. Department of Agriculture projected a national corn yield of 155.8 bushels an acre, well below last month's projection of 162.5 bushels and lower than analysts' average forecast of 159.9 bushels per acre.

The USDA was projecting a record crop a couple months ago. But farmers have largely been disappointed as harvest progresses. The crop faced problems from excessive rains early in the season that washed away supplies of nitrogen, a crucial nutrient, and was also stressed by unusually hot night-time temperatures all summer."

These estimates are based on real-world data since 50% of the US corn crop has been harvested so far.

[Roland99]

20. Eat Mor Chikn

[robcon]

23. Stop making fuel out of corn.

It's expensive, wasteful, and does nothing for the economy or feeding people.

[kenfrequed]

27. Corn

Corn is a terribly expensive crop in terms of chemical and petrol inputs and it is subsidized beyond belief. It taxes the soil terribly as well and the chemicals and fertilizers do terrible damage to rivers and streams causing algae blooms and hypoxia off the coast of Louisiana.

Getting off big corn would be a good thing. To be honest the mass Agribusiness doesn't even represent the actual family farmer at all. The conflation between who subsidies benefit and the image of the farms projected is PR spin at its best.

[NickB79]

34. I'd love to see hybrid chestnuts substituted for corn production

More nutritious, less susceptible to drought, can live for centuries, far less fertilizer and mechanization needed, etc.

http://books.google.com/books?id=iW5GtfnZTbAC&pg=PA227&lpg=PA227&dq=chestnuts+per+acre+corn&source=bl&ots=J8s2wn3Odo&sig=TjpnNzUCW9b5pn7njrt99RySFMI&hl=en&ei=Fpq0TOi_KczangeRrfn-BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=chestnuts%20per%20acre%20corn&f=false

[underpants]

37. Prairie potholes, 4 million "illegals" from Mexico, the Gulf dead zone - Corn is the enemy within

[pipoman]

44. Subsidies

let's pretend for a moment that you own a fried chicken restaurant. Now the .gov tells you you may no longer serve fried chicken...or you may ONLY serve fried chicken? Law suits would fly, these limitations would be found illegal, you would tell the .gov to piss off. Now let's say that the .gov comes to you and says, 'serve only fried chicken this year and at the end of the year we will pay you the difference between last years revenues and this years. You may agree to that. Subsidies are paid to farmers in return for control of the use of the farm ground. Subsidies are in place to maintain supply for demand and to limit extreme highs and lows of both pricing and production. Bottom line is there will be a farm bill which includes subsidies, or we will all buy our groceries at the will of farm cartels.

[txaslftist]

32. Corn-fed beef is unhealthy.

[skoalyman]

35. in a couple more years it will be beef for the rich

and Soylent Green for us peeons

[Toucano]

39. Fine by me. Cheap beef is bad news. n/t

[independent_voter]

40. corn fed steak is delicious

steak is one of those things that can vary widely

iowa beef is as good as it gets