Beef in the Pandemic

Would everyone please calm down?

If you need beef, go ahead and buy some beef at the grocery store.  It's going to a be a bit more expensive than usual, but if you can afford it, go ahead.  Buy what you need.  But for goodness sake, DON'T HOARD FOOD!

As a beef farmer, there are few things I'd like to let the general public know at this time.

1)  You do not need to stockpile beef any more than you need to stockpile toilet paper.  Stockpiling creates immediate shortages.  Shortages lead to panic.  Panic leads to stockpiling.  Stockpiling creates shortages...you get the picture.  Just DON'T PANIC.

2)  The increased price of beef (and other meat) is due to a short supply coming out of meat processing plants.  Several large Canadian plants have shut down or reduced production in order to protect their workers and customers and slow the spread of COVID-19, just like so many other businesses.  Once they are able to get back to work, the supply will increase and the price will go down.  Just give it time and DON'T PANIC.

3)  Beef producers are receiving lower prices for our cattle right now.  This is because we have the same number of cattle to sell for beef, but the processing plants aren't buying as many cattle to turn into beef right now (see point #2).  This hurts, but we know the bottleneck is temporary.  We have to do our part and REMAIN CALM.

4)  McDonald's, the biggest supporter of the Canadian beef industry, is now sourcing limited amounts of beef from the United States.  This is not a reason for outrage.  They are taking this temporary measure because they are not able to source enough Canadian beef from Canadian suppliers at this time (see point #2).  So for those of you getting all worked up about this, or sharing the hoax about McDonald's sourcing beef from South America, please COOL YOUR JETS.

5)  You can try to buy beef direct from a farmer to stock your freezer, but that isn't necessarily the answer.  I just stopped selling beef direct and boy, have I been getting requests for beef lately!  I have to keep telling people, "I won't have any ready until winter.  It takes time to grow a calf to finished size."  Not to mention the additional pressure the extra orders put on the few provincially inspected abattoirs.  (By the way, if it isn't butchered at an inspected plant, it can't be legally sold).  Whether you buy from a farmer or from the grocery store, we appreciate consumers who REMAIN CALM and only buy what they need.

6)  Keep supporting Canadian farmers from all agricultural sectors.  Potato farmers, pork farmers, dairy farmers, produce farmers, beef farmers - we're all having difficulty marketing our products, not because people are eating less, but because people are consuming differently and processors are temporarily bottlenecked (see point #2...again).  Let's make a deal: We producers will REMAIN CALM and wait out the market bottlenecks as best we can and we ask that the consumers NOT PANIC and keep the markets flowing as steadily as possible.