We all know that our farmers and ranchers are the reason we have the most plentiful, safest, and most affordable food supply in the world. And if you talk to them will tell you they enjoy their job. If they didn’t enjoy it why would they continue? Every ag producer is continuously worried about the weather, ever increasing production costs, taxes, government regulations, and their own ability to remain profitable and continue to work, and live their own lifestyle.
As for the weather in our part of the country; the latest predictions indicate not much moisture through the fall and winter. Then the prognosticators say we have a possibility of receiving rain next spring. March through May could be wet months.
Here in Brown County, beef production is the number one ag enterprise based on gross Ag income. And it is likely to remain the top ag commodity. Experts agree that eating habits are changing. Is beef really still the king of the center of the plate? Since the mid 1970’s the annual per capita consumption of beef has steadily declined. Pork consumption has remained fairly even, and chicken consumption per capita has increased to over 100lbs per person per year. There are many reasons for this change in per capita protein consumption. Eating habits are changing, especially as cultural diversification among the U.S. population changes. The city of Houston, Texas was recently cited as the most diversified city in the U.S. per ethnic groups. According to USDA sources, the world production total for farmed fish is nearing 70 million tons and is close to, if not already surpassing beef production. Protein consumption per capita has changed greatly compared to a couple of decades ago and you can expect more changes to come.
Beef production does not end at the ranch gate. Consumer interest in food and where it comes from will increase. As ranchers, we need to tell our story. Agricultural academics say that the average consumer is four generations removed from the farm/ranch so we as Ag producers have to tell our stories. We have to be better at informing people that their food didn’t just magically appear in the grocery store and continue to like our job. Ranchers and farmers are the original environmentalists.