Bacon, pork chop prices could rise 25 percent as virus kills pigs

[OmahaBlueDog]

Source: Omaha.com/Omaha World Herald

Bacon and pork chop prices are set to rise as much as 25 percent this summer as a deadly virus sweeps through the hog herd, killing as many as one in 10 piglets in Nebraska, Iowa and other states.

The disease is called PEDV, or porcine epidemic diarrhea virus. It was new in the United States last year, survived the winter, and is now killing tens of thousands of pigs, mostly the very young. There is no vaccine and no cure for the virus; it doesn't affect people.

“It came out of nowhere and it has been devastating,” said Dennis Hughes, state veterinarian for the Nebraska Department of Agriculture. “It is 100 percent fatal to animals up to three weeks of age, so if it hits your hog farm, it is going to be pretty ugly.”

The prospect of lower pork supplies and higher supermarket prices comes amid already elevated consumer costs for beef. Drought in some parts of the Midwest, Texas and California has led to the smallest U.S. cattle herd since 1951, shriveling the beef supply. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average retail price for a pound of fresh beef in January was $5.04, the highest price since record-keeping began in 1987.


Read more: http://www.omaha.com/article/20140312/MONEY/140319648/1685#bacon-pork-chop-prices-could-rise-25-percent-as-virus-kills-pigs

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For the carnivores among us, this combines with rising beef prices to make for a summer of higher grocery bills.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

1. I want my babyback babyback babyback,....EWWWW!!!!

[villager]

2. Karma for industrial meat producers, perhaps

Given how much damage they already cause.

[Veilex]

4. Just an excuse to raise prices...

They already did it with beef, then chicken... now pork. I foresee a raise in prices on turkey in the not-too-distant future.

[questionseverything]

7. in last 2 years ground turkey has gone from

29 cents a lb to 1.69 lb

[Veilex]

11. Ahhh... I dont buy turkey much...

so thanks for the update. Cant say I'm surprised.

[Purrfessor]

9. No, you have it all wrong...

Prices ALWAYS remain stable unless the minimum wage is increased. /sarcasm

[Fearless]

14. +1

[antigone382]

21. Farmers actually have really been struggling lately.

The droughts/heat waves in the midwest led to a huge reduction in stocks. The producers are doing everything they can to get back breeding stock. The scramble for cattle is so intense that small scale Cattle farmers where I am (in the Southeast) are finding that they can make more money selling younger calves/heifers that are due to calf to farmers in the midwest, than they can raising the same calves to slaughter weight, having them butchered, and selling the meat locally. That scramble raises the price.

The fact is that we pay an artificially low price for meat that depends on incredible inputs of energy and resources. It's bad for our health, bad for the planet, and fundamentally unsustainable. Climate change is bringing that imbalance to an end, whether we like it or not. We'll just have to adjust to the fact that the planet can't support every American eating meat at every meal.

[JoeyT]

23. Farmers are struggling because the rise in prices mostly aren't passed along to them.

Back when pork prices dropped so low some farmers were literally just opening the pens and letting the pigs out to go feral because feed prices were so high that feeding pigs cost more than they would sell for, the price of bacon or ham didn't budge an inch.

Like 99% of the problems in the US, "Corporate profits" are going to be a big factor in what's wrong.

[AngryDem001]

25. THIS!

"Like 99% of the problems in the US, "Corporate profits" are going to be a big factor in what's wrong"

Ain't that the goddamned truth....

[Veilex]

28. This is exactly right.

The problem has almost never been the farmer.
Farmer's consistently get screwed by distributors.

[NickB79]

38. I remember those days on the family farm

There was a time in the 1990's when it cost us more to raise the pigs than we got from them. Spend $30 on feed and heating to raise a pig, only to get $20 for it at market.

Those were bad times.

[Helen Borg]

3. Good.

Pork is bad for you.

[msongs]

5. then its a good thing that humans have no need for pigs or pork products nt

[questionseverything]

6. not just carnivores

with the drought out west fresh veggies are gonna sky rocket too

[Purrfessor]

8. As much as a 10% reduction in the herd causes a 25% price increase...

That's what I call some favorable math! Hell, why not sacrifice one additional piglet out of ten and get a 50% price increase?

[airplaneman]

10. Don't think it hasn't been tried

ENRON! ENRON!

[Psephos]

12. Econ 101: price changes at the margin. n/t

[antigone382]

22. Yeah, let me tell you, farmers are really making out like kings.

[JoeyT]

24. I wouldn't be too quick to blame the farmers.

As I said upthread, when farmers were turning pigs loose because they cost more to feed than you could get for selling them, bacon and ham prices didn't budge. This isn't farmers making out like bandits. This is corporations squeezing every drop of profit they can out of any situation that happens, no matter what.

Supply and demand only works when you don't have a bunch of middle men raising the top so they can take bigger cuts off, then using that money to pass favorable legislation to guarantee they're the only option for supply.

[Purrfessor]

29. No where in my post did I mention farmers...

[DFW]

13. For once, I don't care

Ever since my little cardiac episode ten years ago, I have been removed from the pork/beef/veal eaters category. Due to cholesterol issues, I was told that if it walks on four legs, don't eat it (never did much, anyway).

On the other hand, I was also told to avoid cheese and ice cream, which was torture (but I did).

[flamin lib]

15. Given that the wild/ferral pig population is

a major problem in most southern states this may be a blessing in disguise. As pork prices rise the good ole' boys have more incentive to harvest the free range piggies that are devestating parts of the South.

One sow can throw two litters a year and each litter is 10 or more piglets that means lots of pigs with not that many viable natural preditors. 'cept fer Bubba . . . .

[NickB79]

39. We all have to make friends with this man

http://news.yahoo.com/giant-hog-boar-hunter-caught-500-pounds-133815315.html

Hunter bags 500-pound wild boar you have to see to believe

[onehandle]

16. Beef? Pork? No effect on this household. nt

[NickB79]

17. Damn, and I just found a great pineapple-pork chili recipe

Guess I'll have to double the beans and cut back on the pork next time to stretch it out.

That's alright, I like beans.

[shenmue]

18. Noooooooooo

I want bacon!

No one takes away my BLT sandwiches!

[SummerSnow]

19. So, youre telling me I have to give up my BLT's?

[Mbrow]

20. Gee

This couldn't be from CAFL? (snark) A Modern pig farm make a Confined Animal feed lot look positively sanitary. No wonder you have a rampant virus.

[democratisphere]

26. Time to switch to TOFU.

It's the other bacon.

[1000words]

33. *gasp*

[Le Taz Hot]

40. Ewww!!!

*spit* *spew* Because processed food-like substances are SOO much better.

[RebelOne]

41. I love the Morningstar bacon strips and the sausage patties.

As a vegetarian, I am not worried about the rise in pork prices.

[Hamilton Felix]

27. To think they laughed at me when I bought hundreds of cans in anticipation of just such a crisis!

Well, who's laughing now?

[Beacool]

30. I never heard of it, I had to look it up.

Is it any good?




http://www.mredepot.com/servlet/the-364/Yoder%E2%80%99s-Celebrity-Canned-Bacon/Detail

[Hamilton Felix]

35. Is it any good? How can it be bad?

It's bacon.

[Beacool]

36. Point taken..........

[Sunlei]

34. how do they get 50 slices in a 9 ounce can?

[NickB79]

37. You win the game of Doomsday Prepping

[mackerel]

31. one more reason to get off meat

and go plant based

[RebelOne]

42. This vegetarian agrees 100%. n/t

[Sunlei]

32. The farms have a system in place for this virus.

They infect them all. Many get sick but only the suckling babies have a high mortality. By infecting the pregnant sows, their piglets will gain immunity from nursing.

https://www.aasv.org/aasv%20website/Resources/Diseases/PED/13-05-29PEDWhitePaper.pdf

[Auntie Bush]

43. But for many of us, it makes a meatless summer.