Now that there is no beef-centered holiday coming up, consumers appear to be backing off their purchases of beef. Weekly USDA-reported choice boxed beef prices are off what likely will be their annual highs.  The trend is lower, although they remain much higher than last year or the 2019-2023 average.   WEAKER TREND IN STORE … Read More

The US inventory of all hogs and pigs on Sep. 1 was down about 1% from a year ago, according to the USDA’s Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report. Additionally, the number of pigs born in the June-August quarter was down, even though the pigs saved per litter was up since the number of sows that … Read More

Frozen US beef stocks on Aug. 31 went up from a year earlier but were down from July 31, while frozen pork inventories were down from last month and from last year, the USDA reported in its September Cold Storage report Friday. Chicken supplies in cold storage were up from last year but were down … Read More

Farm debt at commercial agricultural banks continued to grow at a moderate pace in the second quarter, said Ty Kreitman, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank economist, in a Bank publication. According to Reports of Condition and Income, growth in farm debt remained considerably stronger at banks most concentrated in agricultural lending compared with other banks, … Read More

Heading into the Labor Day holiday weekend, the USDA said all retail meat prices continued to climb, the Livestock Marketing Information Center reported. All fresh beef prices averaged $9.18 a pound, pork was $5.00 a pound, and the broiler composite was $2.49 a pound, corresponding to year-over-year increases of 12.6%, 2.2% and 1.9%, respectively.   … Read More

Last week, Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins and Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs, Luke Lindberg, announced an aggressive three-point plan that is intended to support American agricultural producers and exporters, a USDA release said Tuesday. “President (Donald) Trump is putting American agriculture first by negotiating fair, reciprocal deals that benefit US producers, … Read More

In an annual report, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service in Beijing, China, forecast 2025 and 2026 chicken production to be up from previous estimates.   2025 PRODUCTION UP   For this year, the difference is a revision upward as higher-than-anticipated supply in the first half of the year reflected producer optimism for expanded consumer demand, … Read More