October 29, 2025 • 18 mins
Host and American Family Farmer, Doug Stephan www.eastleighfarm.com shares the biggest news affecting family farmers, starting off with good news that the Farm Tax changes have restored the full bonus depreciation, you can now deduct without spreading it out over a number of years.
Next up, the continued focus on the Monsanto Policy, why the price of farm-produced products are going up while farmers aren’t making any money from it, and the legalities of seed companies.
Cattle news includes beef semen use on dairy farms for crossbreed calves, which has become a popular practice driven by economic benefits.
Then, Doug opines on the situation with the dairy industry, the cattle industry, and what it means to be a farmer in America at this time in history.
Website: AmericanFamilyFarmerShow.com
Social Media: @GoodDayNetworks
Next up, the continued focus on the Monsanto Policy, why the price of farm-produced products are going up while farmers aren’t making any money from it, and the legalities of seed companies.
Cattle news includes beef semen use on dairy farms for crossbreed calves, which has become a popular practice driven by economic benefits.
Then, Doug opines on the situation with the dairy industry, the cattle industry, and what it means to be a farmer in America at this time in history.
Website: AmericanFamilyFarmerShow.com
Social Media: @GoodDayNetworks
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The American Family Farmer podcast, sponsored in part by Caldron,
The Safe, proven Way to lose weight. Check it all
out at toploss dot com. Here's something we start off
the program with some news. Actually, there's a lot of
news this week. There is some good news. The farm
tax changes have restored the full bonus depreciation you can
(00:23):
now deduct in this year purchased equipment instead of having
to spread it out over a number of years. This
is a tough farming year, and so Congress, I guess,
in a manner of speaking, delivered a win to farmers
who are buying new equipment this year. In the One
Big Beautiful Bill, there is a one hundred percent bonus
(00:47):
depreciation portion which reverses a schedule wind down which was
triggered by the Tax Cut and Jobs Act back in
twenty seventeen. And so I guess you can go up
to the capital two point five million from what I
see here on the chart. Full bonus depreciation began phasing
(01:08):
down in twenty twenty two, and so what happened the
North American Equipment Dealers Association began to lobby for it.
It was back to eighty percent in twenty three. Sixty
percent of twenty four was going to be forty percent
this year and so forth, by next year it would
(01:28):
be zero. So this new tax policy halts the wine
down and makes permanent one hundred percent bonus depreciation, meaning
that US farmers can deduct the full cost of qualified
equipment in the year of purchase instead of spreading depreciation
over three, four or five years. So I think, looking
(01:50):
at the uncertainty that is part of the marketplace, the
legislation is pretty timely. Interest rates are still fairly high.
Tariffs are are not doing anybody any favors here, that's
for sure. Business norms out the window. Commodity prices are
not good. The tax updates provide stability by helping you
(02:11):
to offset rate increases and counterbalance some of these rising costs.
Equipment dealers around the country have high inventory carrying costs
the floor plan, if you will, And so as a
matter of fact, as looking at these numbers, average dealers,
you know, this stocks a million dollars in parts alone,
(02:34):
and that's usually you know, unless you sell, they don't
own them. It's a part of the floor plants, same
as machines and tractors and that sort of thing. So
the need is here for sure, incentives with you know,
taxes incentive, that's what we all want to see the change,
(02:56):
right when it comes to purchasing equipment, although if we
don't have that much of it, if we didn't have
that good a year, we probably have a lot of
extra money to buy the equipment. But maybe this gets
things moving a little bit, and so that's it. That's
the thing, and I guess we can feel good about that.
There are other things that farmers This week, I've noticed
(03:22):
that there was a lot of discussion online about the
fact that these continuing suits farmers being sued. They can
be and they will be sued if the continuation to
focus on the Monsanto policy. If you plant seeds from
(03:44):
our seeds, you're going to get sued. So there's a
group called Farmers Spreading Awareness, and the main focus is
the seed companies essentially bullying farmers into buying their seeds.
And that's one of the reasons, by the way, for
those of you who listening wants to know about why
(04:05):
it's expensive to buy the food and the farmers aren't
making any money. This is one of the reasons. Frankly,
in many cases farmers don't any longer own the rights
to the genetics of their own seeds unless they're using
heirloom seeds. So in order to have the right to
plant these seeds, you got to pay a fee. The
(04:27):
seed company actually comes onto your property, they check your plants.
The plant has any trace of their genetics.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
They'll sue you.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
So all the hard work growing the plant and you
still don't own it. Seed companies love to remind us
by saying, we know you bought our seed last year,
so if you don't buy seed again from us, we're
going to be auditing you. Good God, I say, screw them,
That's what I say. I think that they are bear
(04:59):
mon Sande. But there are other companies that are doing
it now as well. The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period is here.
Time to get to how many sixty eight million Americans?
Time for you, those of you who are enrolled in
Medicare to make planned changes for the coming year. So
here's a fellow named Jerry Brooks who has some more
(05:21):
information for you to consider.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Now through December seventh is the Medicare Annual Enrollment period,
when eligible individuals can change their Medicare plan coverage for
twenty twenty six. It is important people do their research
every year, as picking the right plan for them can
help beneficiaries potentially save time, money, and even contribute to
overall well being. Whitney's Stidham of eHealth.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Some people let their coverage renew automatically, but comparing options
can potentially save individuals on average one thousand dollars or
more per year, including over eight hundred dollars on prescription
medications alone.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Whether someone is new to Medicare or needs to check
if their existing plan is still the right one for them,
it's crucial to understand the resources available online or through
a licensed insurance agency like eHealth.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Shopping around is key, as the average person has over
forty Medicare advantage plans to choose from.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
For health comparing plans from dozens of Medicare insurers, go
to eHealth dot com or call one hundred e health
Tty seven one one. This ad is not from the government.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Five thousand dollars. That's the average amount of money people
in the US are now spending on gas in a year,
five grand. That's crazy. If you drive, you have to
download upside, the free app that gives you cash back
every time you get gas that's right. You can earn
real cash back with Upside just by buying the gas
you're already buying. You can literally start earning cash back today.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I use Upside every time I fill up, and I've
already made around to three hundred dollars.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
You're putting gas in your car anyway. Why not get
real cash back. If you like free money, download Upside.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I'm saving the cash Iron from using Upside to help
pay for a vacation later this year.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Download the free Upside app now to earn cash every
time you buy gas. Use promo code map to get
an extra twenty five cents per gallon on your first tank.
You can cash out any time writes your bank, PayPal,
or a gift card for Amazon and other brands. Just
download the free Upside app and use promo code map
for a twenty five cents per gallon bonus on your
first tank. That's code map for a twenty five cents
(07:19):
per gallon bonus.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
On the Cattle Front news this week focusing on the
pivot using beef seamen on dairy cows. This has created
a pretty robust income stream for a dairy farmer's cattle.
Farmers bolstered the farm's bottom line. Let's see some of
(07:42):
the bankers are looking at this situation. If you look
back a year ago, beef on dairy cabs were bringing
six hundred, seven hundred, eight hundred bucks ahead and now
that number has gone to one thousand, eleven hundred, sometimes
twelve hundred bucks. And some of the auctions I've seen
are reporting fifteen hundred dollars for these bf on dairy cabs.
(08:09):
So I guess this is not like a lot of
other revenue sources. The bfon dairy movement is an area
where even all dairy farmers have an option to enhance revenue.
To that end, the combined cull cow and calf sale
category netted about a dollar per hundredweight on a typical
dairy farm back what three or four years ago, and
(08:34):
now on many dairy farms across the country, cull cow
sales moved to a buck and a half one hundredweight,
calf sales jumping to two and a half dollars one hundredweight.
That's four dollars more per hundred weight than this at
the end of the summer. These numbers are from the
end of the summer. A revenue stream from beef sales,
(08:55):
along with lower feed prices, have likely reduced the break
even price by two dollars per one hundred weight, So
dairy at the moment. But this is well, it's not
just big dairy. It's like kind of across the board,
family farms, peoplemoking fifty cows, one hundred cows.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Whatever.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
The market opportunity from beef sales shows no signs of
slowing down. If you look ahead the forecast for the
next three years and maybe even longer than that, the
number of steers and halfers destined for feed lots remains
pretty low. And that hasn't that's kind of sent to
cattle futures to recognize it hasn't depressed the prices. That's
(09:39):
for sure. That caused dairy cow herds to grow because
of the margins for beef. Essentially, I've seen this at
the local farmers Live Animal market exchange that we have
here in Massachusetts. Marginal dairy cows are being kept for
the calf if they're bred, and that's kind of what
(10:01):
goes on in the cowcap operations in the beef department.
But the according to the stats at the end of
last month, the US cow numbers have ballooned to nine
point five to two million head. That's the highest total
in thirty years. And that's not I mean, milk certainly
isn't the reason for doing it, because as usual, the
(10:24):
milk prices don't pay you know, I guess i'd refer
to them as flat. The milk markets are what the
government experts call balanced. It's not balanced, all right. So
I keep this is the news portion, not me opining,
but these damn milk prices, man, it's really pretty amazing.
(10:49):
The protein and butterfat production from years dairy farmers grew
less than two percent in the last couple of years,
but this year they've moved higher. Protein improved by three
and a half percent, butterfat up to four point one percent.
That's just in the last couple of months. And yogurt
production has soared as protein demand has grown among the population.
(11:14):
So there's what would be described, I guess by some
as an insatiable appetite for protein. Ten percent growth in
the sale of yogurt, fourteen percent net growth in cottage
cheese sales around our country. So listen, there's good news
in this. For the most part. I'm not going to
(11:35):
tell you that it's great news for all farmers, but
it's decent foremost. So that's the news. Calitron is on
the top of the food chain, if you will, when
it comes to losing weight. And because it is fall,
it's time to focus on what we seem to get
into every year at this time exactly.
Speaker 5 (11:53):
You know, we call it the eating season. There's a
ton of dire products out there, y'all. I know it's overwhelming.
There are the quick figure are the ones that you
know we know have side effects, the ones that you're
not sure what's going to be the long term side effects.
They come and they go. Caldron has been proven safe
and effective for almost thirty years. So if you need
(12:13):
a little bit of help, especially this time of the year,
Caltrin is gonna get you there. The website is toploss
dot com. There is a big fall sale going on
right now with discounts on every single month. So whether
you have a little bit of weight to lose or
a lot of weight to lose, it's a great time
to get on Caltrins. And then I'm also going to
give you our phone number two one eight hundred three
two five four three six six.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Elizabeth Miller from top looss dot com and Calatrin back
on the American Family Farmer. There has been a lot
of discussion. I know each week I get some notes
from people, usually about what it is that I'm talking about.
You can listen to some of the past opines if
(12:59):
you will, my opinion on all of the older American
Family Farmer shows that are available in podcast form on
Spotify and Apple and iHeart where we get your podcasts
at americanfamilyfarmershow dot com. So this week I'm thinking about
the situation that we were talking about editorially earlier, the
(13:20):
dairy industry, the cattle industry, the whole business of being
a farmer in America, and what a roller coaster ride
it is and how annoying it is to those of
us who have been trying to hold on for a
long time. What farmers already know is something that we
(13:43):
have to deal with and continue to repeat, like the
fact that there's a slim portion of the population that's
actively engaged in modern agriculture. And this week we're talking
about animal agriculture, the things that Warren and I live
and work in and do every day. We have firsthand
knowledge and exposure to what goes on and understand Warren
(14:06):
in his position as the president Mass Farm Bureau Association,
the commitment farmers have to being responsible stewards of the land,
the animals, the safe and affordable food that we produce.
So there's a lot of darkness though, and I refer
to it as a roller coaster, especially again going back
to what we were talking about the beef prices, the
(14:28):
dairy prices. There's always a cyclical nature for sure of
this industry, and most of us that are doing it
know that there are. You know, the dairy and the
beef industry are pretty close together, and as I said
in one of the news stories at the beginning of
the program, it's kind of now more than ever as
(14:49):
something that is really kind of interesting to see the trends. Frankly,
dairy with some is dynamic, whether it's growing or not.
I think the beef industry is growing. Dairy is the
largest grocery item, single grocery item, did you realize that?
(15:12):
And the largest refrigerated supply chain. So when you look
at the stats over the last couple of years, three
four five percent growth in dairy products. When we were
mentioning yogurt and cottage, cheese and that sort of thing.
The milk price of milk matters more than the cows
do in my mind, although you got to make you know,
(15:34):
there's money to be made here. For sure, it's a
short term thing. Though this is not going to it
won't last. It may last for a while. It certainly
is a paradigm shift, that's for sure. When you look
back from after World War Two until ten years ago,
milk production component production were kind of one and the same.
(15:56):
Then if you look at the data from the USDA
and the last few years, milk production has grown sixteen percent,
but during that same window, milk components have grown twenty
seven percent. And that's an important thing when it comes
to understanding the value of butterfat, for example, and how
one gets paid for the milk that gets produced. But
(16:18):
then the overall price of what we're growing or what
we're producing has not improved. And so whether one hundred
pounds of milk makes ten pounds of cheese or whatever
the rule is, it still is a difficult market and
it's not appreciate. Whereas, again we go back to the
(16:39):
beef prices that have hit record highs nationwide, cattle inventory
has dropped to its lowest level in seventy years, and
that's because this is such strong demand. Again, as I
pointed out earlier in the program, steak, ground beef, all
that sort of thing. Consumer Price Index report for last
month shows the surgeon beefs over the past year. Ground
(17:02):
beef up almost thirteen percent. Let's see your roasts beef.
Roast beef fourteen percent, steak sixteen percent higher than last year.
It's kind of an interesting thing to see. But when
you look at the issues that we have to put
up with now, the government is giving twenty billion dollars
(17:23):
to Argentina and we're going to buy their beef. How
the hell is that good for the American family farmer.
It's not. This is not good, and people need to
kind of pay more attention to it. I think farmers are,
but I'm not sure the general public has felt it yet,
although when you buy a steak or a hamburger, you're
feeling it for sure. Those are my thoughts.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
This program was produced at bobk Sound and Recording.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Please visit bobksound dot com.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
The American Family Farmer podcast sponsored in part by Caldron,
which is the Safe Way for you to lose weight
and keep it off.
The American Family Farmer podcast, sponsored in part by Caldron,
The Safe, proven Way to lose weight. Check it all
out at toploss dot com. Here's something we start off
the program with some news. Actually, there's a lot of
news this week. There is some good news. The farm
tax changes have restored the full bonus depreciation you can
(00:23):
now deduct in this year purchased equipment instead of having
to spread it out over a number of years. This
is a tough farming year, and so Congress, I guess,
in a manner of speaking, delivered a win to farmers
who are buying new equipment this year. In the One
Big Beautiful Bill, there is a one hundred percent bonus
(00:47):
depreciation portion which reverses a schedule wind down which was
triggered by the Tax Cut and Jobs Act back in
twenty seventeen. And so I guess you can go up
to the capital two point five million from what I
see here on the chart. Full bonus depreciation began phasing
(01:08):
down in twenty twenty two, and so what happened the
North American Equipment Dealers Association began to lobby for it.
It was back to eighty percent in twenty three. Sixty
percent of twenty four was going to be forty percent
this year and so forth, by next year it would
(01:28):
be zero. So this new tax policy halts the wine
down and makes permanent one hundred percent bonus depreciation, meaning
that US farmers can deduct the full cost of qualified
equipment in the year of purchase instead of spreading depreciation
over three, four or five years. So I think, looking
(01:50):
at the uncertainty that is part of the marketplace, the
legislation is pretty timely. Interest rates are still fairly high.
Tariffs are are not doing anybody any favors here, that's
for sure. Business norms out the window. Commodity prices are
not good. The tax updates provide stability by helping you
(02:11):
to offset rate increases and counterbalance some of these rising costs.
Equipment dealers around the country have high inventory carrying costs
the floor plan, if you will, And so as a
matter of fact, as looking at these numbers, average dealers,
you know, this stocks a million dollars in parts alone,
(02:34):
and that's usually you know, unless you sell, they don't
own them. It's a part of the floor plants, same
as machines and tractors and that sort of thing. So
the need is here for sure, incentives with you know,
taxes incentive, that's what we all want to see the change,
(02:56):
right when it comes to purchasing equipment, although if we
don't have that much of it, if we didn't have
that good a year, we probably have a lot of
extra money to buy the equipment. But maybe this gets
things moving a little bit, and so that's it. That's
the thing, and I guess we can feel good about that.
There are other things that farmers This week, I've noticed
(03:22):
that there was a lot of discussion online about the
fact that these continuing suits farmers being sued. They can
be and they will be sued if the continuation to
focus on the Monsanto policy. If you plant seeds from
(03:44):
our seeds, you're going to get sued. So there's a
group called Farmers Spreading Awareness, and the main focus is
the seed companies essentially bullying farmers into buying their seeds.
And that's one of the reasons, by the way, for
those of you who listening wants to know about why
(04:05):
it's expensive to buy the food and the farmers aren't
making any money. This is one of the reasons. Frankly,
in many cases farmers don't any longer own the rights
to the genetics of their own seeds unless they're using
heirloom seeds. So in order to have the right to
plant these seeds, you got to pay a fee. The
(04:27):
seed company actually comes onto your property, they check your plants.
The plant has any trace of their genetics.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
They'll sue you.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
So all the hard work growing the plant and you
still don't own it. Seed companies love to remind us
by saying, we know you bought our seed last year,
so if you don't buy seed again from us, we're
going to be auditing you. Good God, I say, screw them,
That's what I say. I think that they are bear
(04:59):
mon Sande. But there are other companies that are doing
it now as well. The Medicare Annual Enrollment Period is here.
Time to get to how many sixty eight million Americans?
Time for you, those of you who are enrolled in
Medicare to make planned changes for the coming year. So
here's a fellow named Jerry Brooks who has some more
(05:21):
information for you to consider.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Now through December seventh is the Medicare Annual Enrollment period,
when eligible individuals can change their Medicare plan coverage for
twenty twenty six. It is important people do their research
every year, as picking the right plan for them can
help beneficiaries potentially save time, money, and even contribute to
overall well being. Whitney's Stidham of eHealth.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Some people let their coverage renew automatically, but comparing options
can potentially save individuals on average one thousand dollars or
more per year, including over eight hundred dollars on prescription
medications alone.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Whether someone is new to Medicare or needs to check
if their existing plan is still the right one for them,
it's crucial to understand the resources available online or through
a licensed insurance agency like eHealth.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
Shopping around is key, as the average person has over
forty Medicare advantage plans to choose from.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
For health comparing plans from dozens of Medicare insurers, go
to eHealth dot com or call one hundred e health
Tty seven one one. This ad is not from the government.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Five thousand dollars. That's the average amount of money people
in the US are now spending on gas in a year,
five grand. That's crazy. If you drive, you have to
download upside, the free app that gives you cash back
every time you get gas that's right. You can earn
real cash back with Upside just by buying the gas
you're already buying. You can literally start earning cash back today.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
I use Upside every time I fill up, and I've
already made around to three hundred dollars.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
You're putting gas in your car anyway. Why not get
real cash back. If you like free money, download Upside.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
I'm saving the cash Iron from using Upside to help
pay for a vacation later this year.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
Download the free Upside app now to earn cash every
time you buy gas. Use promo code map to get
an extra twenty five cents per gallon on your first tank.
You can cash out any time writes your bank, PayPal,
or a gift card for Amazon and other brands. Just
download the free Upside app and use promo code map
for a twenty five cents per gallon bonus on your
first tank. That's code map for a twenty five cents
(07:19):
per gallon bonus.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
On the Cattle Front news this week focusing on the
pivot using beef seamen on dairy cows. This has created
a pretty robust income stream for a dairy farmer's cattle.
Farmers bolstered the farm's bottom line. Let's see some of
(07:42):
the bankers are looking at this situation. If you look
back a year ago, beef on dairy cabs were bringing
six hundred, seven hundred, eight hundred bucks ahead and now
that number has gone to one thousand, eleven hundred, sometimes
twelve hundred bucks. And some of the auctions I've seen
are reporting fifteen hundred dollars for these bf on dairy cabs.
(08:09):
So I guess this is not like a lot of
other revenue sources. The bfon dairy movement is an area
where even all dairy farmers have an option to enhance revenue.
To that end, the combined cull cow and calf sale
category netted about a dollar per hundredweight on a typical
dairy farm back what three or four years ago, and
(08:34):
now on many dairy farms across the country, cull cow
sales moved to a buck and a half one hundredweight,
calf sales jumping to two and a half dollars one hundredweight.
That's four dollars more per hundred weight than this at
the end of the summer. These numbers are from the
end of the summer. A revenue stream from beef sales,
(08:55):
along with lower feed prices, have likely reduced the break
even price by two dollars per one hundred weight, So
dairy at the moment. But this is well, it's not
just big dairy. It's like kind of across the board,
family farms, peoplemoking fifty cows, one hundred cows.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Whatever.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
The market opportunity from beef sales shows no signs of
slowing down. If you look ahead the forecast for the
next three years and maybe even longer than that, the
number of steers and halfers destined for feed lots remains
pretty low. And that hasn't that's kind of sent to
cattle futures to recognize it hasn't depressed the prices. That's
(09:39):
for sure. That caused dairy cow herds to grow because
of the margins for beef. Essentially, I've seen this at
the local farmers Live Animal market exchange that we have
here in Massachusetts. Marginal dairy cows are being kept for
the calf if they're bred, and that's kind of what
(10:01):
goes on in the cowcap operations in the beef department.
But the according to the stats at the end of
last month, the US cow numbers have ballooned to nine
point five to two million head. That's the highest total
in thirty years. And that's not I mean, milk certainly
isn't the reason for doing it, because as usual, the
(10:24):
milk prices don't pay you know, I guess i'd refer
to them as flat. The milk markets are what the
government experts call balanced. It's not balanced, all right. So
I keep this is the news portion, not me opining,
but these damn milk prices, man, it's really pretty amazing.
(10:49):
The protein and butterfat production from years dairy farmers grew
less than two percent in the last couple of years,
but this year they've moved higher. Protein improved by three
and a half percent, butterfat up to four point one percent.
That's just in the last couple of months. And yogurt
production has soared as protein demand has grown among the population.
(11:14):
So there's what would be described, I guess by some
as an insatiable appetite for protein. Ten percent growth in
the sale of yogurt, fourteen percent net growth in cottage
cheese sales around our country. So listen, there's good news
in this. For the most part. I'm not going to
(11:35):
tell you that it's great news for all farmers, but
it's decent foremost. So that's the news. Calitron is on
the top of the food chain, if you will, when
it comes to losing weight. And because it is fall,
it's time to focus on what we seem to get
into every year at this time exactly.
Speaker 5 (11:53):
You know, we call it the eating season. There's a
ton of dire products out there, y'all. I know it's overwhelming.
There are the quick figure are the ones that you
know we know have side effects, the ones that you're
not sure what's going to be the long term side effects.
They come and they go. Caldron has been proven safe
and effective for almost thirty years. So if you need
(12:13):
a little bit of help, especially this time of the year,
Caltrin is gonna get you there. The website is toploss
dot com. There is a big fall sale going on
right now with discounts on every single month. So whether
you have a little bit of weight to lose or
a lot of weight to lose, it's a great time
to get on Caltrins. And then I'm also going to
give you our phone number two one eight hundred three
two five four three six six.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Elizabeth Miller from top looss dot com and Calatrin back
on the American Family Farmer. There has been a lot
of discussion. I know each week I get some notes
from people, usually about what it is that I'm talking about.
You can listen to some of the past opines if
(12:59):
you will, my opinion on all of the older American
Family Farmer shows that are available in podcast form on
Spotify and Apple and iHeart where we get your podcasts
at americanfamilyfarmershow dot com. So this week I'm thinking about
the situation that we were talking about editorially earlier, the
(13:20):
dairy industry, the cattle industry, the whole business of being
a farmer in America, and what a roller coaster ride
it is and how annoying it is to those of
us who have been trying to hold on for a
long time. What farmers already know is something that we
(13:43):
have to deal with and continue to repeat, like the
fact that there's a slim portion of the population that's
actively engaged in modern agriculture. And this week we're talking
about animal agriculture, the things that Warren and I live
and work in and do every day. We have firsthand
knowledge and exposure to what goes on and understand Warren
(14:06):
in his position as the president Mass Farm Bureau Association,
the commitment farmers have to being responsible stewards of the land,
the animals, the safe and affordable food that we produce.
So there's a lot of darkness though, and I refer
to it as a roller coaster, especially again going back
to what we were talking about the beef prices, the
(14:28):
dairy prices. There's always a cyclical nature for sure of
this industry, and most of us that are doing it
know that there are. You know, the dairy and the
beef industry are pretty close together, and as I said
in one of the news stories at the beginning of
the program, it's kind of now more than ever as
(14:49):
something that is really kind of interesting to see the trends. Frankly,
dairy with some is dynamic, whether it's growing or not.
I think the beef industry is growing. Dairy is the
largest grocery item, single grocery item, did you realize that?
(15:12):
And the largest refrigerated supply chain. So when you look
at the stats over the last couple of years, three
four five percent growth in dairy products. When we were
mentioning yogurt and cottage, cheese and that sort of thing.
The milk price of milk matters more than the cows
do in my mind, although you got to make you know,
(15:34):
there's money to be made here. For sure, it's a
short term thing. Though this is not going to it
won't last. It may last for a while. It certainly
is a paradigm shift, that's for sure. When you look
back from after World War Two until ten years ago,
milk production component production were kind of one and the same.
(15:56):
Then if you look at the data from the USDA
and the last few years, milk production has grown sixteen percent,
but during that same window, milk components have grown twenty
seven percent. And that's an important thing when it comes
to understanding the value of butterfat, for example, and how
one gets paid for the milk that gets produced. But
(16:18):
then the overall price of what we're growing or what
we're producing has not improved. And so whether one hundred
pounds of milk makes ten pounds of cheese or whatever
the rule is, it still is a difficult market and
it's not appreciate. Whereas, again we go back to the
(16:39):
beef prices that have hit record highs nationwide, cattle inventory
has dropped to its lowest level in seventy years, and
that's because this is such strong demand. Again, as I
pointed out earlier in the program, steak, ground beef, all
that sort of thing. Consumer Price Index report for last
month shows the surgeon beefs over the past year. Ground
(17:02):
beef up almost thirteen percent. Let's see your roasts beef.
Roast beef fourteen percent, steak sixteen percent higher than last year.
It's kind of an interesting thing to see. But when
you look at the issues that we have to put
up with now, the government is giving twenty billion dollars
(17:23):
to Argentina and we're going to buy their beef. How
the hell is that good for the American family farmer.
It's not. This is not good, and people need to
kind of pay more attention to it. I think farmers are,
but I'm not sure the general public has felt it yet,
although when you buy a steak or a hamburger, you're
feeling it for sure. Those are my thoughts.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
This program was produced at bobk Sound and Recording.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Please visit bobksound dot com.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
The American Family Farmer podcast sponsored in part by Caldron,
which is the Safe Way for you to lose weight
and keep it off.
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