Beef prices defended
COLUMBIA, Mo - The
current increases in beef
prices are needed to put the
cattle industry back on a
“sound financial basis,”
says a University of
Missoun-Coluxnbia agricul
tural economist
Market forces in response
to the cattle industry’s
“worst depression since the
1930’5” may cause prices to
go up by as much as 35 per
cent over 1976 levels, says
Joe Meisner, a food policy
specialist.
“Beef price increases this
spring are a market reaction
to a complex set of forces,
mainly the result of a four
year reduction in cattle
herds caused by adverse
economic and weather
conditions,” says Meisner
“Substantial price in
creases are needed if cat
tlemen are to recover their
losses and get their business
back on a sound financial
basis.”
Meisner says the share of
consumers’ incomes spent
on beef in the next two years
is likely to be similar to that
of 1973, the last high pomt in
the beef price cycle.
“At the same tune, beef
supplies at least as large as
the 1973 levels of 110 pounds
per capita (that’s based on
carcass weight, before
trimming and cooking) will
likely be available through
most, if not all, of this
period
“There is no evidence at
this point that consumers
will not have adequate
supplies of red meat,”
Meisner says.
Another UMC agricultural
economist, Glenn Grimes,
minimized the importance of
the recent rise in the quotas
of imported beef.
“From a hard, economic
standpoint, this will have a
very minimal impact on the
prices of live cattle and on
beef,” Grimes says. The
additional imported beef will
only amount to about one per
cent of total U.S. beef con
sumption, he notes.
Meisner says the large
supply of beef produced
since 1973 could have only
been consumed “at sub
stantially lower prices in
real terms—that is, with the
effect of inflation removed
“Likewise, if per capita
supply drops back to the 1973
level of 110 pounds per capita
from the 129 pounds in 1976,
the market could experience
a substantial price increase
over the next two to three
years—perhaps 30 per cent
over the 1976 level.
“Counting inflation and
increased demand due to
higher incomes, it could rise
by as much as 35 per cent
over the 1976 average,” he
says.
However, Meisner em
phasizes that consumer beef
prices have lagged behind
the general inflation in the
last few years.
Citing the beef price
survey by the National
Cattlemen’s Association,
Meisner says May beef
prices were up on the
average “only six per cent
from the previous high in
1975, while the over-all
Consumer Price Index has
increased 18 per cent and
average consumer
disposable income has in
creased 27 per cent since
1975.
“Also, the share of
disposable income spent on
beef in 1977 was the lowest it
has been m more than two
decades, at 2.13 per cent.
“Since per capita beef
supplies and consumption
have been on an upward
trend, it’s obvious that retail
beef prices m real terms
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 15,1978
New approach found
for controlling insects
COLUMBIA, Mo - A new
approach to insect control
has been uncovered by a
University of Missoun-
Columbia entomologist who
found that some insects
hibernated because of a
“juvenile hormone”
secreted from a gland inside
their heads
By manipulating the
hormone, G.M. Chippendale
believes he can either extend
insects’ hibernation or abort
it. Either tactic could disrupt
the insect’s life cycle and kill
it.
Chippendale says his
have been on a long-term
downward trend.
“With the share of the
consumer’s dollar spent for
food and for beef on a long
term downtrend, the basic
cause of inflation obviously
is in other sectors of the
economy.”
Meisner notes that cat
tlemen’s returns on in
vestment have been
negative m the past four
years.
“Beef at the food counter
comes only if the many
operations involved in
bringing a calf from its in
fancy on through its grazing
period and eventually to the
retail store can all cover
their costs.”
PERFORMANCE SPEAKS
LOUDER THAN WORDS
tl«|
researcn offers three
potential ways hormones
might be used to disrupt
insect hibernation
(diapause)-
• One way would be to
throw active insects into an
early diapause and therefore
curtail their feeding
• Another would be to
bring insects out of diapause
during the winter when they
would starve because no
food would be available to
them.
• Keep the insects in
diapause, causing them to
use up their food reserves
and die.
The UMC researcher says
future insect control will
include “tailor-made pest
controls,” including insect
growth regulators, sex at
tractants and perhaps anti
hormones playing an in
creasing role in pest
management practices.
When frying chicken for a
picnic, the National Broiler
Council says cool in the
refrigerator, not at room
temperature. Wrap in foil
and place in an insulated
cooler for traveling
Tkc
109