I’ve been trying to write this newsletter for over a week now.  My goal this month is/was to help you stay informed and know what to expect as far as meat prices go and changes that you could expect to see going forward so you can plan your life and budgets. But every day there is a new tariff, a new threat of a new tariff, or a retaliatory tariff.  None of this is normal.  And all of this makes it difficult, to near impossible, to make plans to keep a business running smoothly while trying to provide quality and value to my customers.  In short, it’s really fucking stupid and I haven’t even mentioned all the federal employees an unelected billionaire decided to fire. 

So here’s the cliff notes:  Price will go up.  They will go up for everything.  More than they should and more than is necessary.  I asked Chat GPT to explain it, then I had it simplify the answer… not because I’m stupid, I just wanted to make it as concise as possible.  Though I understand if you question my intelligence, I am very pretty. 

“Trump's new 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports are expected to raise U.S. beef prices. Canada, a key beef supplier, has fewer cattle, which could reduce imports and tighten supply. Meanwhile, China is hitting U.S. beef with a 10% retaliatory tariff, which may disrupt exports. Overall, grocery and restaurant beef prices will likely go up as supply chains adjust and costs increase.”

Do you use quotes when an AI program wrote something?  Do they really need the credit? 

Mind you that was written last week, so I have no idea what percentage Donald might be threatening today. 

As for the ugly-garch’s cost cutting (that’s right I’m not beneath a little name calling).  The UDSA and OSHA are not really the places I would consider bloated federal bureaucracies.  I know we’re all aware of the bird flu that’s decimating chicken flocks across the country and yet Elon is eliminating positions in the USDA National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry Inspection (NACMPI) that provide impartial scientific advice and recommendations to the institutions that monitor the safety of our food systems.  As for OSHA, Upton Sinclair wrote a book about it that was supposed to be a warning, not an instruction manual.  The link below explains how NACMPI helps and why it’s important.  The link below that is overly alarmist, but does layout how another pandemic could begin. 

https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/31581-trump-administration-eliminating-two-food-safety-committees?utm_source=MEAT%2BPOULTRY+Daily&utm_medium=Newsletter&oly_enc_id=2659J1976923I5G

https://cepi.net/world-should-prepare-now-potential-h5n1-flu-pandemic-experts-warn

And here’s the rub, capitalism will not save us.  The farming monopolies, supermarket conglomerates, and the commodity meat markets exist for one reason… to make money.  De-regulation equals more profits. Less oversight equals more corner cutting equals more profit.  And here’s one I don’t see mentioned at all... more tariffs equal more market consolidation.  If prices jump, it’s the smaller businesses that get hurt first.  They don’t have the resources to absorb the costs and can’t fight a price war with bigger corporations.  And that knife slices both ways.  If retaliatory tariffs limit beef exports, where do the farmers sell their herds?  The smaller ones will end up closing and the larger operations tend to work in volumes that limit access to small shops like mine.  Stability in the markets allows for competition to find entry points and niche markets that benefit the consumers.  This chaos only benefits the conglomerate corporations and the wealthy. 

Fuck.  I really just wanted to talk about Easter, our upcoming spring break, and all the fun shit we’re doing, but I think it’s more important to make sure you know what to expect and how to prepare to keep yourself and your family afloat amidst all this uncertainty.  We’ve rolled out some new products that help keep everything affordable for you.  The first; bacon bits (not the salad topping), these are the scraps and ends we get after slicing the normal bacon.  They’re chunks and ends, but they’re half the price, $6/lb.  Also, along with our ¼ and ½ beef, we’re now offering 1/8 beef boxes.   It’s a set price box of about 60 lb of steaks, roasts, grind, stew meat, stock and tallow.  It’s about a 5% savings over buying everything through the case and you don’t need to pre-order them, we can do them the same day with no deposit. $550 each.  

I hope this didn’t get you too riled up, please go look at some cute dog pics or something, that’s what I’m about to do.  Next month I’ll write about something fun. 

Cheers,

Friendly Nick