Originally published on December 17, 2020 9:09 am
Panic buying has slowed down considerably since this spring, but one thing still lingering is higher demand for meat that s easier for people to cook themselves.
Listen / Ground beef, hamburger, to some degree roasts - things people know how to prepare at home and are, you know, pretty comfortable with, said Chelsea Good of the Livestock Marketing Association.
That s not as true for higher-end cuts of beef. With more of those on the market, Good said that translates into lower costs and some discounts at grocery stores. But actually getting the meat to the store is still a bit of an issue - especially for some of those nicer, local cuts.
4:21 Ground beef, hamburger, to some degree roasts - things people know how to prepare at home and are, you know, pretty comfortable with, said Chelsea Good of the Livestock Marketing Association.
That s not as true for higher-end cuts of beef. With more of those on the market, Good said that translates into lower costs and some discounts at grocery stores. But actually getting the meat to the store is still a bit of an issue - especially for some of those nicer, local cuts.
The problem is processing. Workers at some of the large meat plants were hit hard by COVID-19. That slowed those facilities down, causing many ranchers to turn to smaller butchering facilities. Now, even as some larger plants pick up speed, the smaller ones are still swamped.