2011 brought us higher food prices at unprecedented levels, crops and livestock destroyed by global weather catastrophes, nations at war over the lack of food supplies and more food recalls from unique points of origin....More
Whether you turned on the tube Sunday evening to watch the football game, catch the advertisements or watch NBC’s “The Voice” following Super Bowl XLVI, there’s a good bet you enjoyed the evening with friends, family and food....More
Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and one of the richest men in the world, highlighted the relative lack of money devoted to agricultural innovation and research in his annual letter outlining the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s 2012 priorities.
The foundation was founded by the Gates’ in 1994 and is now the world’s largest philanthropic organization. Guided by the philosophy that every life has equal value, the foundation spends the majority of its funds on global health and development projects, both of which are intimately tied to agriculture....More
Look at the genetic trend for performance traits in commonly used beef breeds and the steep, positive slope of improvement is staggering. But if you compare that to the pounds on the ground, and the ability of commercial cows to breed, calve, and wean a calf and then breed back, the lack of progress is just as shocking....More
A recent analysis shows that adding genomic information to expected progeny differences (EPDs) can increase a producer’s odds of selecting the most appropriate Angus sires for his or her individual herd goals....More
“For beef, the number-one driver is still product quality. When everybody asks consumers what drives purchases, it’s the one that comes out on top.”
And, for most consumers, taste is what drives the determination of a quality product, says Daryl Tatum, Colorado State University meats scientist. So how are we doing? Is the beef industry delivering the product that consumers expect?...More
Production costs, rather than selling weight and price, were the most important contributors to profit differences between high- and low-profit cow-calf producers, according to Kansas State University economists.
Cow-calf cost and return records for the 2006-2010 period (Kansas Farm Management Association Enterprise Analysis) were divided into high-profitability operations (HPO), as well as medium and low (LPO) categories, based on annual net return to management (NRM). NRM is gross income minus total costs of production/cow....More
Profits per cow grew in 2010 and preliminary data suggest profits per cow were up again in 2011. I project even higher profits for the next few years, all of which should trigger an expansion in the nation’s cow herd, right?...More
