High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching • Hacker News Board

Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching

#31

Post by bshipp » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 8:53 PM UTC

What seems to be missing in the article is a reference to the Jack-in-the-box ecoli outbreak, BSE, and a number of other food safety outbreaks that dramatically impacted small abattoirs.

I watched a friend close up his small butcher shop when he simply lost the will to meet all of the new and changing requirements that were mandated for him to stay in business.

I'm not saying this was unwarranted, but those smaller slaughterhouses provided competition to the larger ones that kept price in lockstep with demand.

With most of those gone, the remaining large players are able to set their prices to maximize their marginal revenue and not at marginal cost.

Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching

#32

Post by lettergram » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 8:54 PM UTC

voakbasda wrote: post #10

As a small farmer, I can tell you: independent small-scale farming is not profitable in any meaningful manner. Government is actively killing it, by giving away every possible concession to Big Ag. The food in stores is pretty much all garbage compared to food raised on small farms. It sickens me to see things go this way, but this is the reality that we have created.

Having been all over the country it’s amazing to me how different Wyoming and say Tennessee are.

The people in Tennessee already had to deal with the federal government implementing policies destroying the domestic tobacco industry. Btw this just means foreign farmers reap the profits. The federal government made the input costs to tobacco prohibitively expensive through taxes and regulations.

They then converted mostly to grass fed cattle farms. Now there are multiple aspects that make it difficult to be profitable.

It’s really painful to watch.

2008 also had a pretty large impact for farmers losing their farms, followed bu drugs, increased taxes, etc make it pretty difficult. All the farmers complain around me about “getting good help”.

Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching

#33

Post by yostrovs » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 8:59 PM UTC

ramesh31 wrote: post #20

MomoXenosaga wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The food in stores is cheap. And that matters to consumers more than whatever alleged quality small-time farmers can produce (was food actually better a hundred years ago? Doubt).

(was food actually better a hundred years ago? Doubt). It absolutely was, but of course there was less of it. Have you ever had real farm fresh eggs from a free range chicken? It's a completely different thing from those white shells with bright yellow yolks you get at the grocery store. Same goes for vegetables. Ever had a home grown tomato? Those things are worth their weight in gold. The grocery store version is r…

The reason the store egg shells are white is because the Leghorn breed is the most productive layer and it produces white shells.

But to compare our homestead eggs to the store's, you can simply hard boil the two and then use a knife to cut the eggs in half. Our pampered chickens make much denser yolks that are much harder to cut. There's clearly more of something in them.

Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching

#34

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 8:59 PM UTC

graaben wrote: post #28

AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's true; it is. This year I bought half of a red angus cow straight from the farm. It turns red when it gets cooked. It's a sight to behold. The stuff you buy at the costco has been frozen and unfrozen at least twice before you buy it. That's already a meaningful difference. They clearly treat it with some sort of coloring agent. In the 30 years I have cooked meat, nothing can prepare you for real beef that comes s…

How did you go about finding a farm to buy from? I'm very interested in doing this.

[deleted]

Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching

#35

Post by JoeAltmaier » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 8:59 PM UTC

lettergram wrote: post #32

voakbasda wrote: post #10

As a small farmer, I can tell you: independent small-scale farming is not profitable in any meaningful manner. Government is actively killing it, by giving away every possible concession to Big Ag. The food in stores is pretty much all garbage compared to food raised on small farms. It sickens me to see things go this way, but this is the reality that we have created.

Having been all over the country it’s amazing to me how different Wyoming and say Tennessee are. The people in Tennessee already had to deal with the federal government implementing policies destroying the domestic tobacco industry. Btw this just means foreign farmers reap the profits. The federal government made the input costs to tobacco prohibitively expensive through taxes and regulations. They then converted mos…

Destroying tobacco? Wasn't $2B subsidies over the last decade, enough to keep it going?

Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching

#36

Post by pfdietz » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 9:00 PM UTC

voakbasda wrote: post #21

MomoXenosaga wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The food in stores is cheap. And that matters to consumers more than whatever alleged quality small-time farmers can produce (was food actually better a hundred years ago? Doubt).

Studies repeatedly have shown that micronutrients do not get replenished in monoculture crops, resulting in a measurable decrease in nutrition available in food grown in that soil. So, yes, food was actually better a hundred years ago.

Micronutrients are, by definition, present in micro amounts, so they can be fully replenished artificially with only small additions of material.

Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching

#37

Post by tuatoru » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 9:00 PM UTC

orang2tang wrote: post #3

This is happening to every industry. There is an obvious consolidation and massive wealth transfer still ongoing. Sickening

This process is intrinsic to capitalism, though.

Every company has to get bigger by swallowing others, or instead be swallowed by another company that does it.

The board game "Monopoly" is a pretty good simplified simulation of the system's structures and operation. Fun for all in the early stages, not so much in the end game.

Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching

#38

Post by animal_spirits » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 9:00 PM UTC

beebmam wrote: post #30

orang2tang wrote: post #3

This is happening to every industry. There is an obvious consolidation and massive wealth transfer still ongoing. Sickening

Easy enough to solve: tax wealth and redistribute it with a UBI.

That is not easy to do

Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching

#39

Post by JoeAltmaier » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 9:01 PM UTC

xu3u32 wrote: post #14

voakbasda wrote: post #10

As a small farmer, I can tell you: independent small-scale farming is not profitable in any meaningful manner. Government is actively killing it, by giving away every possible concession to Big Ag. The food in stores is pretty much all garbage compared to food raised on small farms. It sickens me to see things go this way, but this is the reality that we have created.

I am someone who usually gets their beef from costco, small middle eastern markets and sometimes when its on sale at the neighborhood grocery store (Publix). Would you mind sharing in what ways what I'm consuming is trash compared to what comes from small farms?

I buy grass-fed beef from my neighbor. There's no difference as far as I can see. I like to support my neighbor, but there's no magic, no difference cooking, no startling color-change tricks as reported elsewhere in this thread.

Re: High beef prices and the destruction of independent cattle ranching

#40

Post by disambiguation » Mon, Jan 03, 2022, 9:02 PM UTC

beebmam wrote: post #30

orang2tang wrote: post #3

This is happening to every industry. There is an obvious consolidation and massive wealth transfer still ongoing. Sickening

Easy enough to solve: tax wealth and redistribute it with a UBI.

expectations: UBI utopia.

reality: Corporate welfare and record levels of poverty.