Saturday, January 3, 2015

Beef Not-So-Wellington

Have I been in a coma for six months or what?  When the hell did beef prices climb so astronomically?  A box of 8 or 12 frozen burgers that cost a mere $8 to $10 last spring, has seemingly sky-rocketed to prices orbiting the $18 mark.  That's freakin' outrageous by anyone's terms.

According to the internet, beef prices have gone up by only seventeen percent.  My calculations speculate that then the prices should only fluctuate by seventeen to twenty cents on the dollar.  Boosting prices by nearly 100%, doesn't add up, except for added dollars into the greedy hands of the grocery owners across North America.

I also read in a news report via the interweb, is that beef prices have been up for quite some time, however the community of grocers and butchers across the land, were charitable enough to quash the prices, allowing the savings to be (literally) eaten out of their profits.  They (allegedly) did so for nearly six months before the damn broke and they were forced to raise prices.  Judging from what it now costs for a box of eight burgers, they've marked up the prices enough to recover the monies lost during their "charitable" period.

In recent years, there's been a lot of drought.  These events cause a shortage of wheat, barley and all the other grains, in addition to reducing grazing lands for cattle.  Shortages then impressed higher demand, which induces higher costs, which impact already struggling beef and grain producers, which, on the whole, has caused the demise of many farmers in the world market, who had no other choice, but to sell off their herds and machinery.  Kind of a forced retirement, in a way.

It's documented that the herds of cattle, today herds are the lowest since 1973 (in Canada), and with the growing income of the middle class in developing countries, the demand for beef is greater than it's been in a long time.  The "from-the-hip" solution to simply "make more cattle" isn't as simple as it sounds.  It takes cattle 30 months to mature enough to go to butcher.  More than two years before demand can be met and prices can begin to come down.  Although personally, I doubt grocery prices will come down that much, once beef prices decrease.  Grocers have us all by the throat.  Everyone must eat and very few have the time or energy to grow-their-own, so "big" grocery can dictate whatever frickin' price they deem fit.  But I'm getting off topic.

Early next year (2016) is the projected date when, if all bricks fall into place, beef prices will begin to come down.  In the meantime, we, the consumers, must grin and bear it, shelling out hard earned cash for tasty cuts of bovine flesh.  Mmm. Bovine flesh.  Either that or become vegans, and frankly, that'll never fly.  Veganism turns you gay (I'm convinced).  Plus, hamburger tastes good.  Bacon tastes good.  Chicken tastes good.  Steak tastes good.  And don't get me started on lamb, but holy shit!!!  Lamb tastes AWESOME!!

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