You may have noticed beef has gotten more expensive.
Retail beef hit record highs and it could take a while before farmers rebuild their herds. Dr. Jamie Luke, assistant professor for Michigan State University’s Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics, says that even though farmers are efficient, it’s still going to take two to three years to catch up to demand.
“It does make it difficult when you don’t have as many cows as you had in the past to respond to these high prices,” Luke said. “So even though you may want to be producing more animals to be putting into the beef supply chain, if you have a smaller herd, it’s difficult to do that. And beyond that, beef production itself has biological lag.”
Luke worries for the future due to technological advancements, we could see an aging dairy and beef herd that is less productive, and that could counter any gains in the herd.
