Beef Consumer Data

Beef Consumer Data

Tim Hammerich
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Livestock producers work hard to make an environmentally friendly product, but the message is sometimes lost to the consumer. Elliot Dennis, Nebraska Extension livestock marketing and risk management specialist, says the environment is only one attribute consumers desire.

Dennis… “We want to make sure we're raising cattle that have attributes that consumers are willing to pay for at the market. And when we talk about that, we're talking mainly about taste and freshness. And so always keeping that in mind, even though there is a lot of these concerns about environment and animal welfare, when people actually value that they actually value convenience of going to the store four times as more important than the environmental impact.”

Dennis says inflation is hitting everyone, and what they can pay will affect beef consumption.

Dennis… “Really starting in June, we started to see people really start to change their spending patterns from buying smaller packets to buying fewer items, and even a little bit of switching between products. So I think that inflation, that consumer income that they have to purchase beef is really gonna be the largest factor. And if that happens, we really need to look at sort of price risk management that prevents downward price movements, such as CME put options or the livestock risk protection program, which functions like a price floor.”

Dennis says if inflation continues, we could see the American consumer's consumption of beef pull back.

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