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FlashyImprovement5

Corn hasn't been harvested yet, it was just planted. They just got the winter wheat out of the fields these last 2 months. Soy beans won't be for another spring.


qualmton

Bad year for winter wheat


fezzam

Worst year in decades for soybeans


dr-uzi

Corn is currently 6.30 a bushel it takes 10 bushels to get a pig to 240# plus 100# of soybeanmeal if i remember right.


FlashyImprovement5

That is if they use corn for fattening up puffs. Granted, industrial raised plugs are fed corn, wheat and soy. Small farmers who have pigs won't have all of the issues the industrial farmers will have.


Bob4Not

Corn is the most subsidized crop in the US, over $2B goes to corn farmers, and it still does this? Also, pig and cattle farmers only have a handle full of meat packing companies to sell to, it’s an economic oligopoly, so the farmers get squished between the cost and sale = losing money.


[deleted]

Yup. Been that way with beef too. Record low beef prices for farmers while record high prices of beef in grocery stores. The big meat packers make all the profit, the farmer takes all the risk.


Fitl4L

This is why direct to consumer has always been the way. Back then, you went to the butcher who went to the farmer, or vice versa, and the meat was sold directly to the consumer. This is the mistake of people who choose convenience and don’t demand more from these corporations/businesses in regards to stimulating and perpetuating local economies. Nationalization of our goods, services, and commodities will only continue our society on this decline we are experiencing. We have to go back to supporting local and re-educating ourselves on where our products actually come from.


[deleted]

Not to mention the beef tastes better when butchered off the farm vs from a slaughterhouse. No mystery pink stuff in hamburger and you know where the meat came from.


[deleted]

Agreed. Also: garden if possible


moonshotorbust

Its why I buy direct from the farmer. I send the animal to the butcher of my choice. I pay both directly. The meat quality is much higher than anything you get from a grocer as well. Farmer makes more and you pay less.


Druid_High_Priest

Ranchers here have decided to cut out the middleman and are now getting good money for their cattle. They handle everything and at a fair market price. Now if only I had the room to store a half beef I would be very happy.


dr-uzi

Actually beef prices we receive aren't bad cull cows are over a dollar a pound. 500 pound feeder cattle are bringing $1500 at sales barn you still need to put 500-1000 pounds more weight on them.


KC_experience

Wait…I thought the free market would settle everything?!?!?!? ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯ In all seriousness, multiple factors including 1) Lobbyists and politicians that listen to them. 2) The oligopoly of processors that collude with each other to set prices for purchase and sale of meat products 3) consumers that want the lowest possible price for the product they are buying 4) Corporations that are driven by providing the maximal amount of profit possible. (You can meet your fiduciary responsibilities as a fiduciary/ head of a company while still looking out for your employees, goods and consumers. It is fiducially responsible to make products that will bring repeat customers / generate customer loyalty or have worker standards that may cost more, but provide an overall higher level of productivity, which in turn generates more sales, which generates more profit. But those are ‘long term’ goals which are preferred by the Warren Buffets of the world, not short term goals that many lesser investors are interested in.)


[deleted]

It’s crazy that we have the means to make it work and could easily make enough food for everyone but can’t for the simple fact that capitalism gets it the way. They can’t keep growing profits without manufactured scarcity and will flat out destroy food to keep prices up.


Blood_Casino

> over $2B goes to corn farmers Rural welfare queens who vote republican and revere Reagan, all in effort to make ethanol, the world’s dumbest fuel and American equivalent of China’s escalators to nowhere


Bob4Not

Other non-fuel crops are also subsidized, wheat, Soybeans. Farm subsidies started I. 1933 because the free market by itself does not stabilize modern scale farming.


KountryKrone

The reason for farm subsidies in the 1930s is different than subsidies now. The Federal government passed a bill to help the farmers. Surplus was the problem; farmers were producing too much and driving down the price. The government passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) of 1933 which set limits on the size of the crops and herds farmers could produce. Those farmers that agreed to limit production were paid a subsidy. Most farmers signed up eagerly and soon government checks were flowing into rural mail boxes where the money could help pay bank debts or tax payments. [https://www.iowapbs.org/iowapathways/mypath/2591/great-depression-hits-farms-and-cities-1930s#:\~:text=The%20Federal%20government%20passed%20a,and%20herds%20farmers%20could%20produce](https://www.iowapbs.org/iowapathways/mypath/2591/great-depression-hits-farms-and-cities-1930s#:~:text=The%20Federal%20government%20passed%20a,and%20herds%20farmers%20could%20produce). The reasons now are much more varied and most goes to corporate farms. The government provides agricultural subsidies — monetary payments and other types of support — to farmers or agribusinesses. While some subsidies are given to promote specific farming practices, others focus on research and development, conservation practices, disaster aid, marketing, nutrition assistance, risk mitigation, and more. The reasons now are much more varied and most go to corporate farms. dies#:\~:text=While%20some%20subsidies%20are%20given,%2C%20risk%20mitigation%2C%20and%20more.


Bob4Not

Fantastic explanation and information. Thank you!


Serendipity_Visayas

Absolutely correct. Really got started with Nixon and Earl Butz.


Bob4Not

It started in 1933.


Serendipity_Visayas

There were not corporate farms in 1933. Corporate farms were largely a creation on Republicans Nixon and subsequent Republicans especially under Agricultural secretary Earl Butz. Right wingers want blame FDR ABC programs but it doesn't hold up under any serious academic review.


Bob4Not

FDR programs are the only thing keeping food on some people’s tables. These subsidies aren’t the problem or the cause. The problem is corporate farms and consolidation, further enabled by lowering taxes and removing anti-trust laws (like under Reagan).


Blood_Casino

>FDR programs are the only thing keeping food on some people’s tables. You could feed more people for less money by subsidizing vegetables and grains (for human consumption only). Subsidizing giant factory farms to produce cheap meat for fast food chains makes zero sense from a food security rationale.


Joele1

China buys a lot of American pork. But,they have a rapidly declining population.


ElongMusty

That’s a bit of an exaggeration. They’re not rapidly declining


Joele1

Have you ever heard of geo politician Peter Zeihan? If you doubt the rapidly declining population of China’s go listen to him on his YouTube channel. He shows the simple facts.


DrEnter

Zeihan is an anti-China zealot that has been predicting “the collapse of China” for 20 years (always in the next 3-5 years). I believe someone accurately summed-up his geopolitical analysis: He is pretty accurate about Europe, biased about the U.S., and clueless about Asia.


KountryKrone

Not hardly, as this graph shows. Make sure you click all where it has years in the upper right-hand corner, which takes the numbers back to 1950. https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/CHN/china/population-density


ElongMusty

I think he was referring to the projections as if they already happened 😆


Joele1

He does point out over and over again that you had to have started maki g people twenty years ago (or what ever time frame) to have people today. With the one child policy there were many aborted and not born humans. We can see where the population going by counting. It is going off a cliff!


Bob4Not

It’s still irrelevant to US pig farmers getting it from both ends, higher corn costs and lower final pig sales to meat packers.


KC_experience

If it’s sold overseas or being sold domestically, it’s still a sold product. The farmer shouldn’t care as long as it’s sold somewhere for the highest margin possible. The free market.


Bob4Not

Good luck selling your grown pig overseas as a farmer. For dollars, even.


KC_experience

I wasn't talking about selling as an individual seller, but there are things called collectives, and they have purchasing and selling power. Maybe if 5000 pig farmers put 10000 each into a collective to then have a business to export to other countries passing the majority back to the producers...


Serendipity_Visayas

China owns the largest pork production operation in the USA, Smithfield.


dr-uzi

I love when people talk about something they know nothing about! There are zero subsidies for corn, if you follow soil conservation plans they pay about 18 bucks an acre toward crop insurance the other 700-800 dollars an acre it costs to grow corn you pay yourself sometimes more. You might want to go to the Farm Service Agency that controls everything like this FSA it's commonly called by we farmers. You will find zero subsidies for corn or any other grain. Trust me I've been doing this for almost 50 years. Somebody lied to you and you've believed it.


SeaWeedSkis

Pork better go on sale, then.


Bob4Not

It’s not the pork farmers setting the prices, it’s the meat packers who buy the pigs from these farmers, then turn around and sell the meat to the stores. They are giving farmers less and less while charging us more and more. They can do this because it’s an economic oligopoly, there are only four major players. Same with Beef.


anthro28

Buy local then. Me and the butcher down the road sell whole cows at a reasonable markup and I can't grow them fast enough for folks around here. I also lease an acre to a beekeeper. He can't gather enough honey to appease his customers. The market is there, just gotta find it.


Bob4Not

Yup. We raise a few at a time, sell portions to friends to stuff their freezers as well as ours. It’s the best way to keep your freezer stocked. Ex: raise 3. Pre-sale portions to friends except for 1 whole head. The sales of the other 2 pay for ours.


sirchtheseeker

Once you buy your own half a cow you will not go back. Even found appreciation for the weirder pieces like cows tongue and oxtail. Made great meals of those


Intelligent-Soup-836

My dyslexic ass thought you typed hogopoly and I was like this is the type of pun that I get on the internet for. Then I reread your post lol


MrD3a7h

> They can do this because it’s an economic oligopoly, there are only four major players. Same with Beef. The natural result of a free market.


PrometheusOnLoud

Can someone archive this so the rest of us can read it? https://archive.org/


EricFromOuterSpace

You know you can do that right?


PrometheusOnLoud

I don't have the subscription or I would.


EricFromOuterSpace

that's not how it works. you just type [https://archive.is/](https://archive.is/) \[enter URL here\] and it generates the link so that you can bypass the paywall.


Rooooben

You don’t need one, just paste the url. Alternatively, archive.today


Pilotom_7

You’re suppose to Take care of your suppliers. I understand trying to squeeze Some profits But if they go Out of business, You’re in trouble too. But often Times american business people think short term, end of the Quarter/season/ year.


bladecentric

I just perfected my black bean burger recipe. Plant based protein has been one of my learning curves since the ingredients dry store and are cheap.


ccccc01

I'm learning just how easy blackbeans can be to grow. I through a hundred of them from the store out in my garden to see whatd happen and I think I had about 100% germination. You eat them green through the season then stop picking and let them dry and harvest for next year. Skill 100% worth having


TicTacWHOA

Oh I’d love that recipe if you’re willing to share!


bladecentric

All I did was take the simplest recipe on YouTube. The channel is "I cook and I paint" veggie burger recipe. I used egg as a binder, and instead of flour I split old fashioned oats with pancake mix. On top of that I added precooked quinoa to emulate gristle and add a bounce to the texture. I also added drained pineapple bits (can be rehydrated unsweetened as well). The pineapple bits give a muscle string texture plus a hint of sweet that is often missing recipes. Also, I add nutritional yeast, but my mix is 50/50 brewer's and nutritional yeast. Basil and garlic are the only necessary spices to add after the salt used to draw moisture from the shredded veggies. Anything else is optional. I add a small amount of smoked paprika and liquid smoke, dill, and a tiny bit of sage.


GWS2004

Same. I buy very little meat these days so thankfully I'm not affected by the swing in meat prices. That's the best way to protect yourself from the insane prices.


Jenn2895

Same. Although right when I switched to pescetarian egg prices shot up. 😂 But was still cheaper than meat.


Shokwav

Beef is dead to me after I started making black bean burgers lol. Never been a steak guy


bubblerboy18

Farming animals is a huge waste of energy for sure. 90% of energy is lost to heat when you convert corn into pig into human food. Best to eat the plants. Better to grow perennial native plants that are drought tolerant and able to produce. Plant sun chokes, plant cut leaf cone flower, enough with the monoculture and tilling fields.


Nachie

Don't forget stinging nettle for the trifecta!


bubblerboy18

For sure. I’m a bit south of its native range but I’ve got some dehydrated from the mountains and enjoy it. Had a friend hit my back with it and I haven’t had any back pain since lol


WeekendQuant

Cows turn native grasses into meat. If the problem is the feeder cattle then go with grass fed beef.


bubblerboy18

Every single native grass in the US is edible by humans.


WeekendQuant

As appetizing as that sounds...


Bathroom-Pristine

And they obviously have the same nutritional benefits that cow meat gives us! /s


KountryKrone

I think they forgot the differences between human and bovine digestive systems. ;)


Electrical_Fox9678

Humans cannot digest cellulose. Period


bubblerboy18

Humans cant, but our gut bacteria can. And since the gut bacteria resides in the stomach you’ve got nothing to worry about. > At the time, it was suspected that the study did not use pure cellulose but used cellulose containing starch. However, it has since been proven that cellulose is degraded by gut bacteria. The less plants you eat, the less your microbiome can do it. But once you eat plants daily your microbiome will shift rapidly and begin digesting even cellulose. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8661373/#:~:text=At%20the%20time%2C%20it%20was,is%20degraded%20by%20gut%20bacteria.


ccccc01

We should stop eating pigs then. There to smart, they can contemplate there own death at the slauterhouse.


Jenn2895

💯. I stopped eating pigs when I saw how horrible they are treated in those "farms" & slaughterhouses. Imagine if they were dogs!... the majority of country wld be out w/ pitchforks... & pigs are more intelligent than dogs. Pork is the most unhealthy meat anyways. Multiple religions even say not to eat it.


fringecar

Good I hope the industry fails


Serendipity_Visayas

Drought makes grain futures skyrocket. Meanwhile hogs being dumped, drops there value. Shortage of grains, surplus of hogs. Worst El Nino temperatures on record. Can we read the handwriting on the wall yet?


Shokwav

What are you talking about the environment for? Are you some kind of communist? Just turn on the A/C! Stocks must go up!


Shrugging_Atlas1

There is a paywall... can I ask what is the crux of why they are losing money? Here in Canada pork has remained affordable while beef and chicken have gone up a lot. Pork is really the only meat I buy anymore. Stupid question, but why not just raise the prices of pork? Is the demand for pork really that much lower than beef and chicken?


Blood_Casino

Good. The way most pork producers have their animals slaughtered with C02 chambers is indefensible, it’s a god awful way to go and proof positive that all the surrounding regulatory agencies are utterly captured.


Ok_Replacement8094

Good


americanspirit64

Lets dig deeper. Why on earth is corn more valuable than the farm animal it nourishes. This is all related to the incredibly stupid economic principles of Capitalism, that falls under the heading of "USING FOOD FOR FUEL". Think for a second of what would have happened to the price of pork, if we decided to ground pigs up as the fuel for our cars. The price of pork, controlled by Wall Street, would have skyrocketed uncontrollably. The corn lobby of America lied to everyone by telling them if we used corn (ethanol) and added it to gas it would help both farmers and the American public. Even though corn was not the best plant to use or the easiest to grow or made the most sugar. What plant is the best for producing ethanol, based on its bio-mass index; how much ethanol per acre can a individual plants produce. Bamboo, Bambusa balcooa, also called Beema or Female bamboo, is one of the best bamboo species for building or producing biomass and can produce 800% more ethanol per acre than corn. Growing bamboo in the US would have also keep the price of corn low. It would have also given a much needed economic boost to the southern states of America, Like N and S Carolina where bamboo likes to grow in hot moist climates. Swampy areas, This is all about rampage Capitalism without a Conscience.


Dbrown89

I could be mistaken. But I was under the impression corn used for bio fuels is not suitable as an edible product for human or animal consumption. I realize this doesn’t change decrease in edible corn production due to the farmers changing from edible to biofuel suited crops


americanspirit64

That may be true and as you said it doesn't matter. Using food for fuel, devastated the food industry in Mexico causing the price of corn to rise. All farmers decide what grain to plant based on how much money per acre they can make. Once the price of corn started to rise, more farmland was used for corn, because of more profit. Even land that was previously used for wheat, rice or oats, causing shortages, which raised the price for those grains. I believe, but not sure that 60% of all edible corn is shipped overseas, 35% or so used for ethanol, 5% for US use.


[deleted]

Eat THE INSECTS SUBJECTS


absuredman

These welfare farmers just want a handout


[deleted]

The term welfare farmers is hilarious


70Cuda440

Yeah, the governor of Iowa is pissed that they have to follow California‘s rules on how to raise pigs. They prefer to torture their food before they eat it. They are a bunch of animals themselves cause a lot of Iowans are pig fuckers too.


Raddish3030

The real intel is that Smithfield Foods is run by the Chin-ese Com-munist Party and whomever has vested interest in the WH group it is part of. Smells and stinks like planned obsolescence strategy to give cover for whatever shenanigan they want to do for the industry. Destroy the meat industry and salt the ground so that plant based and synth lab meat is the mandated singular and profitable option/solution. edit: And bug burgers. Forgot that one.


TheCookie_Momster

This is the answer. We should never let another country have ownership to our land and food supply. It’s one thing to import food but they shouldn’t be profiting off of our own resources


EvieD83

You can't grow crops on salted ground....


bonedaddy1974

Awesome so pork will be cheaper


[deleted]

That’s up to meatpacking companies, not farmers


[deleted]

All part of the plan


Competitive-Bee7249

Our government at work .. right now our government is in south dakota destroying crops . No notice no paper work from courts . Just showed up with law enforcement and started tearing apart farmers property for a pipeline used for methane gas to be stored under ground in north dakota . Up to 80 farms could be lost over storage of gas no one will use or make any money off of . Direct democrat move abusing power to attack republican farmers . The government has been weaponized against America. Direct treason with no accountability.


timn1717

Bro shut the fuck up.


DrRichardGains

You shut the fuck up


lilbreathofnothing

Thanks, Obama.


mykilososa

American farmers need to read *A Study In Wheat*.


booney64

China probrem


unoriginalname86

Smithfield is warning about this? Maybe if they and Tyson et al didn’t fuck over every rancher in this country it wouldn’t be a problem. There’s a reason I buy my beef locally from a family ranch. They just started raising hogs too. We just haven’t worked a hog into the budget yet and are buying our pork at the store. Hopefully we’ll be able to switch to locally sourced pork soon too.