Beef Is Going to Get Even MORE Expensive - A 31-Year Butcher Explains Why

Ground beef averaged six dollars and eighty nine cents a pound in July. Five years before that, the same pound was four dollars and thirty nine cents. A year ago it was about six thirty. And it is not finished. I am Earl. Thirty one years behind the meat counter in three different stores. For all of those years I changed the prices on that case, and every time a customer asked me why, I gave the same three words. It's the market. I did not really know what that meant. So I went and found out. Ten things that explain the price of beef, counting down. It is not the store. It is not any brand. And it is not anybody you have heard shouted about on the news. It is the number of cattle in this country, lower now than at any time since 1951, and the handful of things that got it there. A drought that emptied the pastures. A cycle that takes about ten years to turn. A fly that closed a border. And a country that still wants its burgers. By the end you will know how long this is likely to last, why the first real sign that beef will get cheaper is going to make it more expensive first, and what I would put in the cart while it does. One update since I recorded this. In late August, one crossing for cattle from Mexico, at Douglas, Arizona, reopened for a slow, monitored return. The other southern crossings are still closed. It is a start, and it is a long way from the million and more young cattle a year that used to come across. The store prices come from the government's monthly survey of what beef costs across the country, and the cattle numbers from the USDA's count every January. You can check every one of them yourself. If you have not seen the video about buying the whole piece, watch that one next. In a year like this it is one of the few places where you can still take money back. Nobody paid me for this. There is nothing here to buy. I do not work for any store. Tell me what you paid for a pound of ground beef this week, and what state you are in. The national average hides a lot. I read every one. --- About this channel: this is a fully owned and operated media property. All scripts are written and researched by our team, all voiceover and visuals are produced in house, and every video is edited by hand. We are not an aggregator and we do not republish other people's work.