US beef prices have soared but farmers aren't making more money • Hacker News Board

Re: US beef prices have soared but farmers aren't making more money

#141

Post by laughing_man » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 6:49 PM UTC

JohnFen wrote: post #106

esafak wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things might not work itself out in desirable ways. I imagine what will happen is that portions will shrink, and become adulterated. For example, a restaurant ostensibly using ground beef might partially substitute something cheaper... Food fraud is rampant in developing countries. One example: https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2025/07/28/food-fraud-... https://scijournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jsfa…

> I imagine what will happen is that portions will shrink I wouldn't mind this up to a point. One of the things that I find really irritating about most US restaurants (I'm an American, if it matters) is that the portion sizes tend to be far too large.

You don't have to eat everything in one sitting. There's a burrito place near my house I go to occasionally, and every order there is two meals for me.

Re: US beef prices have soared but farmers aren't making more money

#142

Post by laughing_man » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 6:51 PM UTC

notfromhere wrote: post #10

ericmay wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people see this as a problem, but I see it as a normal function of market economies. Disruptions, changes in government policy, changes in consumer behavior, and more will over the long term just work themselves out. Of course some policies or seemingly "voluntary" policies may cause undue price increases, but even those work themselves out. At the end of the day as more and more people want to consume the same…

A lot of these markets aren't really functioning when there are many middlemen that have an 2-4 company oligopoly that choke out any actual competition. Many markets don't really have 'competition'

As the topic article points out, the 2-4 companies in the beef industry are losing money at current prices. If they didn't actually compete with each other you definitely wouldn't see that.

Re: US beef prices have soared but farmers aren't making more money

#143

Post by ButlerianJihad » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 7:00 PM UTC

laughing_man wrote: post #141

JohnFen wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I imagine what will happen is that portions will shrink I wouldn't mind this up to a point. One of the things that I find really irritating about most US restaurants (I'm an American, if it matters) is that the portion sizes tend to be far too large.

You don't have to eat everything in one sitting. There's a burrito place near my house I go to occasionally, and every order there is two meals for me.

Prepared hot meals from restaurants are very difficult to preserve as leftovers. Salads and sandwiches, too!

It is really the goal of food service: to make something that is ready-to-eat, and this is incompatible with tossing it in the fridge or freezer for later.

A burrito may be mostly forgiving, but your cheese and the lard will congeal, and the juices will soak through the tortilla, and guacamole will oxidize, and reheating the burrito cannot reverse these processes.

Re: US beef prices have soared but farmers aren't making more money

#144

Post by laughing_man » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 10:11 PM UTC

ButlerianJihad wrote: post #143

laughing_man wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't have to eat everything in one sitting. There's a burrito place near my house I go to occasionally, and every order there is two meals for me.

Prepared hot meals from restaurants are very difficult to preserve as leftovers. Salads and sandwiches, too! It is really the goal of food service: to make something that is ready-to-eat, and this is incompatible with tossing it in the fridge or freezer for later. A burrito may be mostly forgiving, but your cheese and the lard will congeal, and the juices will soak through the tortilla, and guacamole will oxidize, an…

Heh. Oddly, just like cold pizza, it tastes better to me after a day in the fridge.