Anderson, D. (2023, March 2). 2023 meat production expected to decline 1%. Www.farmprogress.com. https://www.farmprogress.com/livestock/2023-meat-production-expected-to-decline-1
After a record year in 2022, the United States is expected to see a decrease this year (2023) as well as in 2024. This year’s dip was around 1% and related mainly to supply chain issues. A common theme among each animal’s decline in meat production are increased costs related to the supply chain as well as the general economic state of the country. Another notable issue that is leading to the decrease in meat production is drought which has specifically hurt cattle and beef production.
This article is related to environmental science as it shows a direct effect of environmental change. Due to an environmental change, in this case, drought, meat production is being directly impacted. As I read this article I was surprised at first but as I continued to read it made more and more sense. I had already known about the issues with the supply chain so pairing that with environmental factors made sense for a decrease in meat production. The article was especially interesting with the mention of the expected decline continuing into 2024 with a considerable decrease in beef production specifically. I also found it interesting how the increase in 2022 was caused primarily by beef and chicken despite a decrease in pork and turkey production. The trend then flipped this year with pork and turkey holding while beef and chicken decreased.
I was aware that the U.S. has recently been experiencing many supply chain shortages, but I didn’t realize this impacted the meat industry as well. However, I was familiar with the fact that droughts are contributing to the decrease in meat production. Given that this decline is expected to continue into 2024, what can we do to improve the situation? Are people trying to repair issues before 2024, or are we just going to accept the decline?
I have recently realized that this is an issue, especially in California, because of the drought, we are going to experience a lot of things like this, and a lot of different farms are going to have lots of issues with how they grow crops as well at raising livestock. How easy of a problem is this to fix?
Hello, thank you for reading this article. To answer your questions I would say it is a difficult problem to fix, but it is possible and people are working on solving this issue every day.