Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Today's January 26, 2025. The report came out yesterday. On January 25, we saw an article and beef futures have hit an all time high. They hit $200 this last week and we find that absolutely shocking. Welcome to the Dust or Mud podcast.
[00:00:21] Speaker B: I'm Rich and I'm Shelley. On the Duster Mud podcast, we like to talk about food freedom and farming. Today we're really mixing, I think all three of, in a, in a nice little, I don't know, ground beef package.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: Right.
Yeah, we're, we're going to talk about the, the farming aspect of, of the beef and then we want to cover what that's going to do to our food and our food prices. And whenever you start talking about prices of things, it really hits the wallet and that might affect our freedom.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: Yeah. And so we've already seen how supply chains definitely affect our freedom. So I think we'll, I think we'll be hitting on all three today.
[00:01:04] Speaker A: Yeah. So whenever you saw the, the article, we were looking at it. What, what was your like, initial, like, like gut reaction to, to that information of it being, of it being so high right now?
[00:01:17] Speaker B: Yeah, it, for me it was okay. Beef is already high and we're getting indications that it's now higher. I don't know. I mean, we grow beef, but I don't know, beef futures, we don't trade in beef. So like, I don't understand exactly all of the ins and outs of trading beef, but for me it was a, it's, it's higher than high now.
[00:01:45] Speaker A: Well, you do. We do understand, and most people watching this understand the concepts of buying things in bulk to be processed like barrels of oil. Our gasoline is typically, it fluctuates up and down based on the price of oil by the barrel. And so when you hear that a barrel of oil is $100 a barrel, we know, oh no, it's going to get high.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: And whenever, it's definitely more than 50.
[00:02:10] Speaker A: Right. Whenever it's lower, we know that our fuel is going to be lower. So we can, we, we can surmise that while we don't know all the details and ins and outs of beef futures, how the packers, the feedlots and the ranch, the large ranchers really do business, it doesn't really matter. The fact is it's up.
[00:02:30] Speaker B: Yeah. The markets themselves hit 200 and then that drove the futures markets for February and April also above 200. So these are historic prices. Never seen this high before.
[00:02:43] Speaker A: Indicating that, I don't know, I guess in the spring and Summer, our beef is going to be even more expensive. Potentially. Yeah, that's potentially someone's going to have to absorb it.
[00:02:54] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: And let's get into that.
Our prices are skyrocketing. The, There are some reasons for it and we've covered it in previous podcasts, but as it relates specifically to historic highs on futures, why are we seeing these skyrocketing prices? As far as our herd sizes, supply and demand.
What cows people are even keeping.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Yeah, herd size is at 50 year lows right now as you mentioned, the meat packers really driving the issues.
The, their, their timing on ordering really drives the size of the cattle that are coming out of the feedlots.
So the amount of beef produced isn't much less than it has been being because the packers are leaving the, the bees in the feedlots longer. So the size of the cow coming out of the feedlot is larger. So the amount of beef produced is still not that much less than what, what we've seen in the past, although the beef herds are less. So now we're playing a game between the cost of feed that goes into each cow.
The longer you leave it in the, in the feedlot, obviously the, the more it costs. But right now, currently feed costs are low.
So I'm sure our corn producers would tell you that the prices of corn is, is down right now and that's a big factor in the, the amount that it costs in the feedlot to get that cow fattened up and, and ready to go. So the, the beef herd is smaller, I think since the 50s.
Um, but the amount of beef produced isn't that much less. And that has to just do with the amount of feed that we're pouring into each individual cow, which would increase.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: The cost of the beef overall because it, while it might be down, it's not free.
[00:05:09] Speaker B: Correct.
[00:05:09] Speaker A: So we know that there are inputs that are greater than they would have to be if we had more on the ground.
[00:05:18] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Got it. And then.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: Well, supply and demand.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: Yeah, you mentioned that the demand is still, if you look at the articles, it will say demand for beef is still high.
That's interesting to me because in the 70s per person we used to consume almost 75 pounds of beef per year per person and that's dropped down to somewhere around 53 pounds now.
So compared to 50 years ago, demand is lower.
[00:05:53] Speaker A: I don't think they're comparing it to 50 years ago. They're comparing it more to like the last, probably 15.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: Yeah. And years that that has fluctuated. It's Gone up and down. And it seems to be based. If you look at a percent change from, from average, it has to do with the economic situation in the nation. So there was a dip in 2008 during the recession. There was a dip in 2024 based on inflation and such. So there's. There are, you know, it goes up and it goes up and down. And that, that seems to follow how the economic, I don't know, feel of the nation is. Is going.
[00:06:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And the, the herd size is also being dictated and the future herd size so that they're back to your futures. Because ranchers, cattle ranchers are not keeping enough heifers back. Female, Female cattle who, who have not ever had a baby. They are not breeding them. They're not keeping them as replacements. Instead they're sending them on to be food. And so when you don't have enough.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: People.
[00:07:07] Speaker A: Who are having babies, your population.
But that would be an entirely other podcast. Right.
[00:07:18] Speaker B: So there's a. They're looking for a number of heifers to be held as replacements. And because each year cows age out.
[00:07:28] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:07:29] Speaker B: And as this cow ages out, a heifer has to come in to replace that cow and.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Right.
[00:07:35] Speaker B: And a percentage of the heifers they look for to go to the feedlots.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: How populations work.
[00:07:41] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm just saying, I'm saying it's not all heifers.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:07:45] Speaker B: So no one is looking, no one is looking for 100% no heifer replacement. And the numbers really, you know, at 43%, it's low, but at 45%, that's good. You know, so like it's, it's a percentage point or two that they're using to make these, these decisions on. Is the, Is the national herd growing or shrinking?
[00:08:08] Speaker A: But the, the downstream effect. It's years downstream.
[00:08:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: That it's really going to affect because it takes a while for cattle to reproduce and to become of reproduction age.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: And the number of replacement heifers has been less than what we need for a few years now. And like the last time we talked about this, it was, you know, the, the number of replacement heifers is low.
Farmers need to start keeping more to be able to at least even stabilize the national herd. And coming into now 2025, the number of replacement heifers is still low.
[00:08:53] Speaker A: So that you're stretching it out even.
[00:08:55] Speaker B: Yeah. The. Has not swung yet back to rebuilding the national herd.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: And they're doing, they're doing this.
The large guys are doing this because of the amount of money they can make off of that heifer now versus keeping her back. Because the prices are just so good.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: Because we've got historically high prices.
[00:09:17] Speaker A: So it's really awesome for the cow calf pair operations and for anybody who's holding and feeding cows, it's a really good time to be putting them through the packing plants versus keeping them on your, your land and.
[00:09:34] Speaker B: Right. And, and there have been like natural disasters. There's been droughts, there's been hurricanes. Like there have been a lot of things there. And we are dealing with an aging and getting older population of farmers that are getting out.
[00:09:50] Speaker A: Selling out.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: Yeah. So like there are, there are a lot of, a lot of different factors that are, are playing into the herd size decline.
And as long as demand stays anywhere near steady and supply continues to go down.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: Even from a numbers perspective, all it would take is a little bit of a raise in food feed costs.
And what you're seeing now as slow increases in beef costs would, would skyrocket then.
[00:10:26] Speaker A: Well, the, the skyrocketing prices something that we, we've dealt with some really bad inflation as far as food and everything in this economy this past couple of years.
But a lot of it you don't, there are a lot of products. You don't see a big skyrockets going up. And a lot of that I think is because of.
There are hidden costs in our food. Especially in the industrial model where things aren't, they're not tangible. They're not seeing the cost of producing that food because we're paid or farmers are paid.
It's paid on the back end rather than necessarily at the grocery. When you're paying for the grocery item.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: It'S hidden and back end. You mean really behind the scenes?
[00:11:20] Speaker A: Yeah, sure.
[00:11:21] Speaker B: Not on.
[00:11:21] Speaker A: That's behind the scenes. It's not, it's. It doesn't go to the consumer. It's. It's behind the scenes. So I can make something really cheap if I use a lot of chemical force. Right. So if I use a lot of chemicals I can make something cheaper because I've got less in it. I can fertilize it and I can chemicalize it to, to grow the thing and then. And that's great because I can make a lot of it and it's going to be really less expensive for the consumer down the road. But where are those chemicals going?
Well, that's, that's behind the scene cost that most of us as consumers that we don't see that.
Right. So in the industrial model because it is so factor factoryized you know, because it's, it is a factory model. We. And it is government subsidized. We do not feel it as bad at. When we're checking out the grocery store.
[00:12:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I think you've, you've lumped a couple of different ones together there. So the government subsidies, I believe is, is definitely one thing that price is being paid in tax dollars or debt.
[00:12:40] Speaker A: So it's hidden.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: So it's hidden nation. Right. Like, so it's, it's hidden from the price tag because the, depending on what you believe about the economy of the United States, it's either being paid for by the government taking out debt or it's being paid for on the backs of the taxpayers. Right. Like however, however you want to look at that. Yeah.
So that, that is a cost, but it's not on the price tag. It's a cost somewhere else.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: Prepaid.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: Right. Either in debt or taxes, however you want to look at that. And then the environmental cost was the thing that you're talking about with the chemicals.
I think chemicals have two different factors. One is environmental cost and one is just it's cheaper even with the cost of chemicals. It's cheaper to grow with them than without them.
So the environmental cost of using the chemicals equals the, the dead zone that everybody likes to talk about in the Gulf of Mexico that is due to the, the runoff of all of these chemicals making their way.
[00:13:50] Speaker A: Not know about that dead zone. I know a lot, a lot of the people that we listen to talk about the dead zone. But there, if you didn't know, there is a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico that comes is just, just beneath the Mississippi river and the delta along that line where there's so much farming going on near in the delta and in those regions of our country. And a lot of chemicals get sprayed on that land and as it rains and all of the runoff, it all goes out ultimately ends up in the Gulf of Mexico. And now you have an entire swath the size of a small state that it can grow anything.
[00:14:34] Speaker B: Yeah. It's measured by the amount of oxygen that's available for things to live, fish things to live. So the amount of oxygen is less than what's required to sustain sea life.
[00:14:45] Speaker A: And the fact that that's just kind of, I mean it's not okay, but like nobody talk.
Why is that okay?
[00:14:53] Speaker B: Yeah, it's, it is a. Why it's another one of those behind the scenes costs. So the, the food is cheaper because of the chemicals that are used to produce it, but the cost is still there. It's just not on the price tag of the food.
That cost now is the impact of a dead zone the size of the state of New Jersey.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: And I can't imagine that it's. Unless things change, I can't imagine that that's going to be. Get. Is going to continue to grow.
Yeah, I mean, I don't know the science behind all of it, but if it's gotten to this size, is it something that will continue to grow in that area or has it reached some sort of homeostasis and this is just the area that we're just going to sacrifice?
[00:15:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't, I don't know, but.
[00:15:44] Speaker A: We know it's impacting all of the fisheries and stuff down there.
[00:15:47] Speaker B: I can't imagine that it would, it would change unless what we're doing changes, you know, like, yeah, if, if we add more chemicals, I would expect it to grow. If we take some away, I would expect it to get less.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: Yeah. You know, so that, I mean, that's just the generalized cost of industrial agriculture. Really though, the, the behind the scenes, the taxpayer subsidies, that's how we artificially keep our groceries low.
[00:16:19] Speaker B: Yeah. And one of the things as we were preparing for this particular podcast, an advertisement that I see often on YouTube, I don't pay for premium on my account.
[00:16:32] Speaker A: I do.
[00:16:33] Speaker B: So I get some ads and one of the ads I see is the deep cowboy voice that says, keep glyphosate in our state.
[00:16:43] Speaker A: And he's talking Missouri.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: He's talking about Missouri and Missouri farmers and how we don't need the. Anybody telling us how to farm our land. And you know, without glyphosate, we wouldn't be able to do what we do. And I don't know, it's just, it's an interesting ad. And the. As I was thinking about it, I'm trying to determine who the ad is targeting. So is it targeting farmers?
[00:17:11] Speaker A: Those farmers already believe that. They know that.
[00:17:14] Speaker B: I don't think so. So, like there are farmers who do and farmers who don't use glyphosate. And I don't know that keep glyphosate in our state is, is meant to speak to, you know, convince a non glyphosate farmer to use it. And that's Roundup, by the way, weed killer. And so it's. I don't think as a farmer's. I don't think it's the policymakers.
[00:17:40] Speaker A: No, I think that they're talking to the consumers because we've all it. It. We've all been hearing a lot about glyphosate being in our food over the past couple of years and even learning what glyphosate is. We all knew what Roundup was, but that was a weak killer in your yard. We didn't really know they were spraying it necessarily all over our food. Well, it has come to our attention that they are spraying it all over our food and that people are kind of not well because of it. And there is evidence coming out that is actually making people kind of sick. So historic landmark type lawsuits against large corporations like Monsanto happening. So we're learning that glyphosate is bad.
Consumers are becoming aware of that. And so it, the deep cowboy voice coming on the radio, I think is talking to the consumer like, we need, we need glyphosate in our state. Like, don't ban it because we're trying to grow your food.
[00:18:47] Speaker B: Well, it's playing to the freedom minded, independence, consumer libertarian type person. The don't tell me what to do. And so I get that. Okay. And if we decide that we, you know, the, the, the big we, if we decide that that cost should not be determined by the, the policymakers. Right. So if we say that the, the lawmakers should not determine whether or not the environmental cost is worth it, then it comes down to the consumers to whom I believe this ad is talking.
So that means as a consumer, if you say I am unwilling to have that cost, that environmental impact cost of the use of something, a chemical like Roundup or even chemical fertilizers, a lot of the oxygen is being depleted because of the amount of nitrogen that gets into the water. You get algae blooms that, off goes the oxygen. Like, you know, so it's not just Roundup, it's chemicals in general. But the, I think the consumer can make that decision. The. Yeah, I, I actually don't want food that has had glyphosate.
So I'm not buying it.
And then a consumer, an informed consumer demand for change.
Now you can start doing things right.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: But I, but that requires a continued informed consumer that is willing to say.
[00:20:35] Speaker B: I'm unwilling, it is more important to me to pay the cost at the price tag on the sticker of the, of the food item. I would rather pay it there than paying it with a dead zone.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: But the majority of consumers aren't really environmentalists, but they do eat food.
[00:20:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: And it is affecting their health.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:21:02] Speaker A: So could, could we also even come at it from the health perspective?
[00:21:05] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:21:06] Speaker A: You know, that really hits home we all do eat. Okay, never mind the dead zone. I'm not an environmentalist. I don't, you know, I, I, I care about things overall. I'm, I'm speaking yet in general terms. I don't want the duds on there personally. But some people may not like, you know, look, I'm not an environmentalist. I just, you know, just do my job and come home and we live my life with my family.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: And, but back, you know, your family, it's in the food that we're feeding our kids. It's in the food that we're feeding ourselves and our health and well being. Like if we could put that out there.
[00:21:41] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:42] Speaker A: The, this is really making you sick.
[00:21:44] Speaker B: Right.
[00:21:45] Speaker A: Do you really want to continue to consume it?
[00:21:47] Speaker B: Yeah, there's a cost there for sure.
[00:21:49] Speaker A: Yeah. Then you get into the healthcare problems.
[00:21:51] Speaker B: Right.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: And the metabolic dysfunction going on in the world.
Another podcast.
[00:21:57] Speaker B: Right.
But you know what?
[00:22:00] Speaker A: That happens because it's all interconnected.
The food that we produce under the policies that are in place affect each and every one of us because we eat food and the food that we eat determines our health.
[00:22:25] Speaker B: Ah, there's where you, there's where you lost everybody. Why not our, not our people are everybody's. No, but the majority, you've lost them right there. Because we are all led to believe that a calorie is a calorie. It doesn't matter.
Food isn't medicine food, it just, it, it's just like gasoline. You just put it in and your body runs. It doesn't matter what it is.
[00:22:53] Speaker A: Right.
[00:22:57] Speaker B: Right. So like, I think, I think that again, an informed consumer, you, you have to go all the way back to food does matter.
The quality of food matters. The, the makeup of the food matters.
[00:23:15] Speaker A: Right.
[00:23:16] Speaker B: A calorie of Coke is not equal to a calorie of ground beef.
Like they are going to do different things for your body, but that is different than a calorie is just a calorie.
[00:23:30] Speaker A: Right.
[00:23:31] Speaker B: We all, we need 2,000 calories.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Yeah. You do it in moderation and you'll be fine.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: Right. So I think, I think you've that, that assumption there that, you know, food being something that drives metabolic health is, is not currently mainstream. I think people are, are mainstream, I believe is coming to the point of something's wrong.
And I, it seems that the answer that's being picked is we're, we're just eating too much. I can give myself a shot that will control my appetite and then that will, that will fix it.
So I don't know that even I don't think we're getting to food equals health or sickness. I'm not sure we're there.
[00:24:31] Speaker A: Okay, well the food that is cheap is subsidized by the. Whether you want to say government debt or the taxpayers, you pick.
If we make the subsidies go away.
If the subsidies were not there, how.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: Far are you going to take that?
[00:24:54] Speaker A: Well, I, if the subsidies were not.
[00:24:57] Speaker B: There, like, like the subsidies going to the farmers farmland or subsidies like SNAP.
[00:25:04] Speaker A: And ebt, it's all inter, it's all interconnected.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: Well the, I mean the government is paying for it on both sides there.
[00:25:15] Speaker A: They're paying for it coming in and going out. And the multinational food, big food corporations are reaping the profits and benefits from it.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: And the large farms.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: And the large farms and healthcare system.
[00:25:29] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: So, so if we pre. Local, we preached, we did away.
[00:25:37] Speaker B: You, you posed a question.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: Okay, what if we did away with it?
[00:25:40] Speaker B: What if we did away with this?
[00:25:41] Speaker A: Things are going to get real expensive for people real fast there.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: I believe that you will at least begin to see the true cost of food.
[00:25:55] Speaker A: Because it's hidden. It would put it right in our faces of what it really cost to create the food.
[00:26:04] Speaker B: And if you paired get rid of the subsidies with any kind of policy changes that include regenerative, like we need everybody to move towards regenerative farming.
[00:26:15] Speaker A: Right.
[00:26:16] Speaker B: Sustainable farming, holistic approach, however you want to say it. Okay. We're, we're moving there as a nation. So if you say, because you know, we, we like to, we like to think that way. Like we, we grow our food this way. But can you feed the nation? Not from our farm. No, no. So it would take some kind of a push. So let's just say policy pushes towards a regenerative approach and policy pushes towards a reduction or elimination of subsidies. Okay, wow, now you're talking about, you're going to see the actual cost of food.
Everybody is going to see the actual cost of food, not just the people who say I want to buy good food. You know, like there, there are people today, I believe that are seeing the, the actual cost of food, but not, not on a large scale.
[00:27:24] Speaker A: So we preach local regenerative over commodity industrial and a lot of, a lot of people would say, yeah, I'm in, but I can't afford it. Yeah, how, how, how do we, how do we make that switch? How do you, how do you get that consumer to understand that overall it's actually going to cost you less if you buy the good food?
[00:27:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
I think it goes all the way to the, the belief of calories. A calorie. If, if you believe that I can be healthy or sick based on the food that I'm eating, then you can start making determinations. Because I think, I believe that people can see health care costs and that is a concrete thing. And if you can begin to tie that to food, then I think you start to say, hang on a minute, if I buy ground beef instead of a Twinkie, I'll pay a little bit more for the ground beef, but I don't have to pay for, you know, all of these medications and doctor's visits.
[00:28:47] Speaker A: And I agree with you on, I agree with you about that. But I would add that the costs of health care are also hidden from people because we have insurance companies and healthcare industry. That is the numbers are so astronomical that many of us don't even see it. Whether you're on, whether it's your private insurance or government insurance, whatever it is, we don't see the whole bill on things. Some people are getting their weight loss drugs that you were talking about for very inexpensive or if not free. And a lot of their other metabolic help medications are also very little cost to them. And so if the food is very little cost and the health care is very little, the medicine is very little cost. And we don't know what it's really costing anyone in the environment in this country to just, to survive. Like, we don't know really. But here's the thing, the fact is someone's having to pay for it. Our country is 30 something trillion dollars. I don't know what the current number is right now. 30 something trillion dollars in debt.
[00:30:10] Speaker B: It would be different by the time anybody watched this anymore for sure.
[00:30:14] Speaker A: And going up, the, the, the, the financial situation in like all of the sectors is ridiculous. And so someone's paying for it.
Might not be us, but someone is. And, and so back to the beef that it's gonna go up, we're gonna have to pay for it one way or the other. If you want to eat beef, it's going to be expensive.
Do people just quit eating it?
[00:30:46] Speaker B: We did have a comment from one of our Canadian friends that said I haven't had beef in a year because I can't afford it. And the, the prices that she was throwing out there are probably four or five times higher than what we're seeing.
And yeah, that's true.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: So it becomes more, it became more of a treat or delicacy.
[00:31:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
So can you afford a steak?
[00:31:18] Speaker A: I don't know they're expensive already, you know.
[00:31:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:23] Speaker A: And we know that the industrial model is on a very thin mark. They're on very thin margins.
[00:31:28] Speaker B: Right.
[00:31:29] Speaker A: We have to operate on different margins because we are, we are, we're small.
[00:31:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:35] Speaker A: Their margins are like single digits.
Let's say Walmart.
[00:31:40] Speaker B: Walmart across the board I believe is somewhere around 3% is what they need for a, for a farm to be considered successful. I believe that they're looking at, or if you're less than 20%, you're considered at risk.
If you're more than like 30, 40%, then you're considered healthy profit margin wise.
For, for us, we're, we're trying to balance health of a business with con consumer need, you know, so we can't go to 3%. I, we can't cover any. No, any. It wouldn't cover anything at that point. So. But the, I think the, the bottom line of what you're trying to say is that local is not necessarily cheaper.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: And I don't think it will be. It can't be because you have to have a percentage of the price of the good to cover and meet the needs of the farmer and the family and the community. Right. So it can't ever be, I don't see it being cheaper.
[00:32:54] Speaker B: Right.
[00:32:54] Speaker A: Than factory food.
[00:32:57] Speaker B: And, and it's, it's across the board. So like where we take from a cow that has a calf on our farm, that calf, you know, eats grass and hay that we provide it. And grass is not free, by the way. Like that's a, that is a misnomer. Grass is not free. The land has to be purchased, the taxes have to be paid on the land.
You amend the soil, whether for us it's by adding manure and hay and different things to it. But even if you just put lime out, which is natural, grass isn't free.
And so then you have the input cost there, you have the input cost of processing it across the board.
We're, we're as vertically integrated as we can make it. But at each one of those places, our, our margin is greater than the industrial scale of the people that are doing that thing. You know, we, we can't, we're not feeding our animals on an industrial scale.
We.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: Or industrial food.
[00:34:06] Speaker B: Yeah, but I mean like we pay for hay at the, at the rate that you get when you buy 100 bales.
[00:34:12] Speaker A: Right.
[00:34:12] Speaker B: We don't pay for hay at the rate that you get when you buy a million. You know, like it's just a, the, the scale drives A different economy, but.
[00:34:24] Speaker A: It'S a local economy and it's a strong economy. If we can get them, get these local economies going and growing. Because your money is going to stay in house. It's going to grow your community.
You're going to get to know your farmer so you know where your food is coming from. Did you spray glyphosate on it?
[00:34:44] Speaker B: Right.
[00:34:45] Speaker A: What are you feeding the animals? Who really get to know that farmer and that farmer becomes your supplier of your food. You know, it's, it's coming straight from the, the source to your freezer into your plate.
And it.
[00:35:01] Speaker B: So I think where I was going with that as well is I believe with your local farmer, you're seeing the true cost.
[00:35:09] Speaker A: Right.
[00:35:10] Speaker B: It's not being hidden.
[00:35:12] Speaker A: No.
[00:35:12] Speaker B: Because, you know, it's 80. Whatever, 83% of. Of farms aren't, are very small. Like they're not getting the government subsidies.
[00:35:24] Speaker A: Right. They don't get anything.
[00:35:27] Speaker B: You know, that that cost isn't being hidden. You know, like. Yeah, that taxpayer dollar or whatever isn't coming to your local farmer in the, in the form of subsidies typically. Right. So there's no, there's no artificial cost hiding going on there. And a lot of times I feel.
[00:35:47] Speaker A: Like it, that, that the, the local farmer, the small guy, is just trying to get rich. Like, why are you charging $9 29, 25 cents a pound for ground beef? When I get it down there for so much cheaper, it feels like the local guy is trying to get rich off of groceries. It does. It feels that way, but it's not.
[00:36:10] Speaker B: It can. Like I could understand why someone would say that, but the local farmer isn't giving, getting the government subsidies. A lot of times that local farmer is doing things regeneratively so they're not taking advantage of all of the artificial chemicals that, that we just talked about that help drive down the cost. So you're. The, the cost of raising it is greater, the scale is smaller, meaning that you have to make more off of each sale. You know, I. We're not selling a billion pounds of ground beef.
We're. We're selling 200 from each cow that we have processed.
[00:36:58] Speaker A: Oh, ground beef.
[00:37:00] Speaker B: I'm just saying, like, if you just are looking at ground beef, like the Cargill JBS whoever, like they're selling pennies on the dollars. Yeah. Like they only need to make a couple pennies.
[00:37:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:37:11] Speaker B: Where we need to make dollars per sale in order to, to keep the business going. You know, you just don't have that, that there. So I, I think that when you're buying local, you're getting much closer to the actual true cost of food and.
[00:37:32] Speaker A: You'Re getting, you're, you're all the way at your source. So the benefit, or another benefit would be that you, you're creating a thriving community and, and food resilience in your area.
The supply chain is very short. We talk about this a lot. Keep the supply chain short so that when we come across situations and we may very well again in the future like we did five years ago, and you can't get it. So if your supply chain is short and you are thriving in your local community with your local sources, you're probably still going to have some food.
[00:38:11] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:12] Speaker A: It's just more resilient.
[00:38:14] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
[00:38:16] Speaker A: And it might be more fun. You know, it could just be more fun. It could be more fun to go to the farmer's market and go talk to your farmer and hey, how are you guys doing? Oh my goodness, it's cold. And how are the animals? And you're actually involved with how your food is created, you know, rather than the transaction world that we live in with food. When you go to the big box store and go buy things and on your way out, like, it might actually just be more enjoyable.
[00:38:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:38:46] Speaker A: Also, you know, we do, we enjoy it.
[00:38:49] Speaker B: We have a place in our, our meat store in Ava at Air to Ground Meats. We have a table and coffee and we sit down and chat.
[00:38:58] Speaker A: We get to know our customers, they.
[00:39:00] Speaker B: Get to know us.
[00:39:01] Speaker A: We like to know who we're feeding. And it really adds the, this, the special relationship that we have with them will get you up and out the door to go even when it is super cold.
[00:39:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:39:16] Speaker A: Where are we headed then with our, with our food?
All in all, if I was a consumer, what am I really looking at and how should I reframe what I'm, what I'm doing with my food and buying, you know, does it become more of a, like an investment rather than that, that purchase, that transaction that we were talking about?
[00:39:38] Speaker B: I think it, I think it does and becomes, I don't know. I, I think each consumer could probably pick the, their, their thing that they like to think about it. It could be an investment in your local farmer, in them directly. It could be an investment in your local community. The dollar stays here. It doesn't go to Brazil. It could be an investment in your own health. It could be an investment in just the taste, the quality of your food.
I think you could, as a consumer, you could pick A lot of different things. And use that as your foundation, as the stone that you're building this on your own mind change or shift about food. You could pick any number of things. It could be. I want to find somebody that is doing things environmentally the way that I would like them to be done, that isn't contributing to a dead zone.
[00:40:46] Speaker A: Right.
[00:40:46] Speaker B: Like, there are just, there are a lot of, a lot of different factors. But again, the, the requirement is going to mean, though, no matter which of those you choose, you are, you are dedicating to the real cost of food.
[00:41:09] Speaker A: Right.
And these cattle prices being so high and the things going on within our food system a symptom of the problem. These are the, these are symptoms of a very large problem within our food industry.
And I think that big food, big ag, our food system as consumers, we need to understand that we're, we're kind of operating on borrowed time at this point.
[00:41:42] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, you often hear what's the tipping point? And I, I think, I really don't know. I don't know which is going to tip first. Is it going to be a health crisis? Is it going to be an environmental crisis? Is it going to be the, the food crisis? Like.
[00:41:59] Speaker A: Right.
[00:42:00] Speaker B: Which, which one would be a, the tipping point that changes everything? I don't know. I'm not sure which. Which one happens first. I believe that right now there's a lot of talk about the health crisis. So it might be that the health, the metabolic health of our nation drives some of the other changes.
If you made me say, you know, what's going to drive change?
The tea leaves to me would say health. And maybe we start to view metabolic health as originating with food instead of as originating with genetics or whatever else they think.
[00:42:49] Speaker A: Well, like the environmental stuff going on, like, okay, we can see it, the degradation, the desertification, however, the big long words, the topsoil erosion. There's a lot going on there. But maybe you're right. Maybe our health, the metabolic situation in this country spreading globally is the canary in the coal mine.
[00:43:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:43:17] Speaker A: Of what we've been doing is not sustainable for humanity, for actual humanity. This isn't sustainable.
And we just all need to understand that change is going to come.
Do we have a choice in how it arrives?
Can we make the changes without having some just, you know, catastrophic type ordeals? Can we make changes incrementally so that we can absorb them as humanity?
[00:43:59] Speaker B: I don't know.
It's getting pretty bad.
[00:44:02] Speaker A: I know. I mean, you know, we kind of need to hurry.
[00:44:05] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:44:05] Speaker A: A little bit, yeah.
[00:44:07] Speaker B: There aren't a whole lot of people that would argue against us being in a health crisis.
[00:44:13] Speaker A: No. Right.
[00:44:14] Speaker B: So, I mean, like, it.
[00:44:15] Speaker A: It's happening, so we got to do something. So we're doing what we can do. Do what you can do. And find food that maybe hasn't been sprayed with glyphosate. Maybe find food that is a more local source and we pound it. I mean, we. We just keep beating the drum about finding food that is healthier for your body, healthier for your kids. Real food more sustainable than what's going on in the country right now.
[00:44:51] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure.
[00:44:52] Speaker A: Yeah. And, you know, beef prices are going to go up. That's what this is kind of telling us. And we'll just hang on for the ride and. And kind of see what happens.
[00:45:04] Speaker B: Yep. With really no end in sight.
[00:45:06] Speaker A: No, no, not at all. Well, thanks for hanging out with us again on the Duster Mud Podcast. If you enjoy these podcasts, make sure to hit the subscribe button. You can also listen to these on Spotify, Apple podcasts. You name it, it's out there. So make sure to, you know, hit, hit, listen. And if you are one that listens, hey, the only way that other people are going to know that a podcast exists is if you tell somebody else.
[00:45:36] Speaker B: Right?
[00:45:36] Speaker A: I mean, that literally, podcasts are word of mouth.
And if you are watching on YouTube, we just. Thank you for joining us. And until next time. Bye, y'all.
[00:45:46] Speaker B: Bye, y'all.
