Excellent read

[Cedar]

Cowman: 1975 avg $44.61/cw
2005 avg $87.28/cw

What would these figures look like after being adjusted for inflation? Isn't it you that's always saying how back in '65 or '75 or whenever you could sell a couple(?) of steers and go buy a brand new truck...????!? Like to see ya do that now! (It might buy a steering wheel!)

[cowman]

grassfarmer: I wonder what portion of the consumer dollar was spent on food in 1975 and I wonder how much is spent on food in 2006? I'll try to look it up but I believe considerably less?
I am not saying Tyson or Cargill don't make a lot of money because obviously they do! They are huge corporations...with huge investments? I don't think their profits are outlandish compared to most other corporations...and if you check the red meat business isn't their stellar performer?
Meat packing really isn't a super performer compared to many other businesses. I think all the new kids on the block...find that out real quick?
Food has not gone up as much as other products such as gas or pickup trucks? Food production costs have increased however? That factory, the energy to run it, the labor, the utilities, the taxes...they all go up, and probably as fast or faster than the price of food?
Now I'm not sure about this but I think Rod said one time the consumer food cost has fallen to below 10% in Canada and the USA? I believe he said in Europe the cost was over 35%? Is that true or in the ballpark?

[cowman]

Cedar: Of course the price of cattle hasn't kept up with some inflated value products...including pickups, labor, utilities, gas, land, machinery etc. Neither has grain.
However that doesn't include every product? A color TV in 1975 was who knows? I know I bought a 13 color inch TV in 1980 for $400...today probably about $85!
I am not here to say we are getting a fair deal on our cattle! I am saying the problem is the finished price for the food is not high enough? In a free market food should rise to a price where everyone in the value chain can make a profit, or the product should cease to exist...unfortunately we do not have a free market?

[grassfarmer]

Your getting closer to the truth Cowman, i'll just rearrange the last few sentences for you.
" Unfortunately we do not have a free market. In a free market.... everyone in the value chain can make a profit, or the product should cease to exist."

"I am saying the problem is the finished price for the food is not high enough?" - Still the wrong conclusion though, that's maybe why you had a question mark on the end?

Your figure of 10% versus 36% in Europe certainly isn't true of the UK, it may be more true of some small country somewhere, Scandinavia has always been a costly region for example.

[cowman]

Well grassfarmer, you seem to think I don't have a grasp for the language...and that may be true...hey I'm just a dumb Albertan raised in the provincial education system!
And you obviously should have a better grasp of prices in Europe...and certainly the UK? All I can go on is second hand information...like my mother who used to visit England about every other year and always reported how high priced meat, cheese and milk were(actually any food)?
Or my neighbors wife, who still has family farming in England? When she tells me what the subsidies are on hogs... I am astounded! More than the market pays here!
Could you share with us some of the prices? I would find it interesting, and it might prove informative?
At one time, Alberta actually shipped a lot of live cattle to England? Obviously someone was making money? Why doesn't that happen anymore?
Again...not trying to be a smartass here...just truly interested.

[grassfarmer]

Cowman fat cattle in the UK were averaging $1.04/lb Cdn. yesterday. Beef in my local butcher shops there is almost identical to Rimbey. Supermarkets dominate in most towns and cities though and are dearer, as well as poorer quality.