00:00If you haven't noticed, beef prices are up 15% and the government is basically saying,
00:04yeah, it might get worse.
00:06Food inflation overall is actually cooling down, but beef?
00:09The U.S. cattle herd is the smallest it's been in about 70 years
00:13and ranchers have been hit with drought, disease, and super high costs for feed and land.
00:17That resulted in consistently shrinking herds and rebuilding a herd isn't easy and it's not instant.
00:22It can take years. You can't just copy and paste a cow.
00:25Then comes processing.
00:27After cattle leave the ranch, most of them go through four massive companies.
00:31Tyson Foods, Cargill, JBS, and the National Beef Packing Company.
00:35Together, they handle about 85% of all U.S. beef packing.
00:38Some politicians argue that when a few companies control that much, prices can get distorted.
00:43And the companies themselves say they're struggling too because there just is not enough cattle to keep these plants running.
00:48Case in point, Tyson shut down a whole Nebraska plant because it wasn't worth running at half capacity.
00:53Critics say that kind of concentration makes the system fragile.
00:56One disruption and suddenly it feels like 2020 all over again.
01:00Meanwhile, Americans are eating more meat.
01:02So demand is strong, supply is tight, and the prices stay high.
01:05So here's the big question.
01:07Are you fine paying these higher beef prices or are you switching to chicken or vegan?
01:11Let us know in the comments, read the full story on our website, and follow us here for more.
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