Page 3 - MWC 8-20-20s

The Midwest Cattleman · August 20, 2020 · P3

August 20, 2020 Volume 26 No. 7

CATTLE MARKET OUTLOOK: PRICE PROTECTION CAN HELP CATTLE
HANG TOUGH, IT’S GONNA GET BETTER PRODUCERS IN VOLATILE MARKETS
There’s a light at the end of the cattle market tunnel, By Dan Childs, Senior Agricultural Economics Consultant
and it’s not another train. Many risks are ever present for agri-
By Burt Rutherford cultural producers. To attempt a listing
“I’ve been at this for 40 years and I’ve never seen all of of all the risks would likely be some-
the things that we’ve gone through this year from a market what surprising and quite lengthy. The
risks that come to mind quickly are
standpoint.” weather risk and price risk. The Unit-
So said Randy
Blach, CattleFax CEO, ed States Department of Agriculture’s
Risk Management Agency (RMA) has
during the recent Cat-
tle Industry Summer created ways to help many producers
Meeting in Denver. continued on page 23
No doubt, everyone
with enough time in SORTING THE COMPLEXITY OF THE
the cattle business to BEEF MARKET
have the scars to show for it can say the same. By John Nalivka
Blach spent a fair bit of time working through the dynam- Carcass weights are a key issue to the beef industry today.
ics of the past nearly 12 months as the market dealt with, and While they are one-half of the production equation and this
continues to deal with back to back head slaps from the Tyson can be a problem, there is a positive aspect as well – carcass
fire and COVID-19. Rather than rehash that here, let’s take a grades. On that account, since the first week of January av-
continued on page 10 erage carcass grades
have been 87% Choice
BEEF EXPORT AND IMPORT ADJUSTMENTS or higher. This is a
By Josh Maples, Assistant Professor & Extension Economist, primary driver of de-
Mississippi State University mand – quality. The
U.S. beef trade contin- problem is that more
ues to adjust to supply of that quality beef
and demand shocks. The has to clear the mar-
latest data release from ket.
the USDA Economic Re- Photo -TAMU continued on page 12
search Service (ERS)
shows the impact of LIVESTOCK ECONOMISTS EXAMINE IMPACT
these shocks on U.S beef OF COVID-19 ON BEEF, PORK
exports and imports. On By Greg Henderson
August 6, ERS released Three of America’s
the June 2020 Livestock leading livestock econ-
and Meat Internation- omists have released a
al Trade data. The data new working paper that
continued on page 10 examines in-depth the
dramatic impact the
NCBA ADOPTS POLICY TO SUPPORT U.S. COVID-19 pandemic un-
CATTLETRACE leashed on cattle, beef

The National Cattlemen’s and pork markets this BS plant, Greeley, Colorado - Photo Jim Rydbom
spring.
Beef Association (NCBA) board “Beef and Pork Marketing Margins and Price Spread during
of directors adopted a new poli-
cy in support of U.S. CattleTrace and continued on page 24
its mission of advancing disease trace-
ability in the U.S. cattle industry. The Coming Sales-30
policy resolution was brought forward by Life is Simple-5
state cattlemen’s associations in Florida,
Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, and Washing- Market Report-8
ton. Agribusiness
“The NCBA policy process starts with individual producers Directory-28
– it’s a true grassroots process. To see this policy resolution
continued on page 12