Little Relief for Beef Prices and Drop in USDA Survey Responses
From the Ag Information Network, this is your Agribusiness Update.
**The July Cattle on Feed Report offered little relief to customers paying higher prices for beef, despite the cycle of herd liquidation that seems to be slowly ending.
There were 94.2 million cattle and calves in the U.S. as of July 1, the lowest midyear number since 1973.
Bloomberg says the shortage has sent cattle costs soaring, wiping out billions in profits for packers and driving record-high beef prices for consumers.
**Numerous stakeholders, like farmers, Extension Services, researchers, and policymakers, all rely on the data that USDA has collected for more than 150 years.
But decreasing responses to USDA’s farmer surveys are beginning to put the integrity of the data at risk.
A Farm Bureau Market Intel page says USDA should examine ways to increase participation and reliability without imposing more burdens on the already busy growers whom the data serves.
**U.S. farm production expenditures were estimated by the USDA at $477.6 billion in 2024, down from $481.9 billion in 2023.
The four largest expenditures in the U.S. accounted for 48.1% of total expenses.
They included feed at 15%, farm services at 11%, labor at 10.8%, and livestock, poultry, and related expenses at 10.4%.
Total farm expenditures per farm in 2024 were just over $254,000, down 0.4%.
