THE COMING RISE IN MEAT PRICES

FROM FAILED MESSIAH (VIA THE NEW YORK TIMES)

Drought is decimating US farmers, especially cattle, goat and sheep growers. And barring a shift in government policy, that will eventually mean your food – already priced higher than ever – will go up in price even more. That could mean that kosher meat prices will skyrocket, perhaps to the point that many average Orthodox and haredi families will be priced out, making vegetarian cholent the new rib roast.

Unfortunately, the Times deals only with the land conservation end of this problem and completely ignores everything from the profiteering of big agribusiness, the destruction of many small and medium sized independent family farms, and the impact on your food supply and it price. It doesn’t speak about bad government policy kept in place through the lobbying of large agribusiness companies. And it makes it seem as if the drought is only in Texas, which is false – it covers most of the Midwest.

Cattle growers who can’t afford to feed their herd have to sell off some (or sometimes all) of it to survive. That temporarily depresses meat prices (or, more accurately depresses the rise in meat prices). But eventually, the number of cattle becomes too small to meet the demand, and the sources for those cattle become concentrated in the hands of large agribusiness. And that is an environment kosher meat producers do not thrive in. Kosher meat eaters will not like the result.