The beef industry needs to have a market to serve, and all stages of the beef production system need to be profitable. This is what is needed, and if this is the case the industry will expand, as people capitalize on the profits. Profit margins in some sectors may narrow depending on the type of business you want to be, but the top managers will still be able to make a profit through proper economic decisions, and taking advantage of the poor supply chain linkages that currently exist. So look out htose of you who raise cows...because you raise cows!! You may be in trouble.
I think the strength of the our industry is to serve customers who want grain fed beef. But we must remember on delivering a quality product because any slippage in quality and we can't compete against all the cheap beef on the world market.
To dable in this high quality market we need to not only compete against cheap beef, but also against pork and chicken. Therefore in order for our beef industry to expand (which I still see potential for, especially in Canada, as we may only have the efficient and progressive producers left targeting high quality markets) we need to be efficient through the supply chain, and have a premium product, because that is the only means we have to compete. It becomes a juggling act.
Overall, I feel the market for grain fed beef is somewhat limited, because of the high cost, and it is mainly a focus of Canada against the U.S. Right now Canada is moving forward in great strides, to be more efficient in the long term, and I think this will be at the expense of the less progessive U.S. beef industry. Rancher as you said, consumers want to know where there beef comes from, we are way ahead of the U.S. there, we are gaining new slaughter plants that are market focused not losing them like in the U.S.
On another note, I think that most of the gibberish that goes on in here is useless, and people have to face the facts....look at what has been dealt to them and decide how they are going to make the best of the situation and move on!!
