These prayers are very powerful. They've truly moved me. I've had another epiphany. Praise the Lard! :P 
EU faces bacon shortage as herds fall
- Thread starter Eboard10
- Start date
Thanks both for the laugh! 
Gawan said:loreta said:Maybe you should all come to Spain? There is a lot of pigs here! No pun intended.
:D So there would be still plenty of them :P
Maybe to much....
But I think one of the best regions for pigs it is here, Castilla y León, but I am not a Spaniard so maybe I am wrong. Extremadura also but over there their strong is fields, fruits, etc. Here, in Castilla y León the strong is raising herds of pigs and bovine. I don't know about the rest of this strange country.
Although farmers have problems because of taxes, high prices, etc and many, many have to close their little farms. And this is a tragedy because in this region there is no other manufactures. In Catalonia I don't know but it seems to me that Catalonia is very industrialize and surely they have many pigs. This week I will talk with my butcher, to see what he is telling me. His business is going up, strangely. In this region people eat a lot of meat, hopefully. But I see they are afraid of fat. I am maybe the only one who asks for fat, fat and fat. ;D But as I said, prices are going up, also... and this can be a problem, ultimately. And prices will go up next year and this seems infinitum.
Guardian
The Cosmic Force
Evidently the outlook is a little better for our local farmers, because pigs (and chickens, goats, etc.) eat Kudzu, and there's a big problem with it our region. Rumor has it that the Highway Department is giving free orange vests and triangles to farmers who want to cut kudzu along the roadways.
We're also surrounded but the Great Smoky Mountains National park and while it's against the law to harvest INDIGENOUS plants from the park, a person can pick or pull all the kudzu they want. Because it is considered an "invasive species" the cutting or uprooting Kudzu by "volunteers" helps the native plants and trees survive, and farmers can get a pickup load full of good quality pig food for about an hour or two of work. Rangers are even directing "volunteers" to harvest Kudzu in areas where it's threatening endangered species of trees. :)
Kudzu is an excellent source of nutrients (people can eat it too) and if it's pulled up by the roots it evidently provides everything a pig needs to thrive. We didn't suffer from drought this year, and our local corn and grain crops were actually a little higher than average, but because the cost of grains is skyrocketing, some local farmers are selling their corn crops for cash, and harvesting kudzu for their animals.
We're also surrounded but the Great Smoky Mountains National park and while it's against the law to harvest INDIGENOUS plants from the park, a person can pick or pull all the kudzu they want. Because it is considered an "invasive species" the cutting or uprooting Kudzu by "volunteers" helps the native plants and trees survive, and farmers can get a pickup load full of good quality pig food for about an hour or two of work. Rangers are even directing "volunteers" to harvest Kudzu in areas where it's threatening endangered species of trees. :)
Kudzu is an excellent source of nutrients (people can eat it too) and if it's pulled up by the roots it evidently provides everything a pig needs to thrive. We didn't suffer from drought this year, and our local corn and grain crops were actually a little higher than average, but because the cost of grains is skyrocketing, some local farmers are selling their corn crops for cash, and harvesting kudzu for their animals.
loreta said:
Pretty the same here, I started to talk about benefits of fat, my butcher listen, his wife too, saying it makes sense because of their reminds regarding their parents and grand-parents used to eat... But nothing more.
And in his butchery, all meats which are visible to the client are not those I buy. All I ask is behind in the refrigerator or I have to purchase it. I ask the fatter pieces possible and I seem to be the only one to do this too.
I also will ask him on the next week how is the bacon market, just to see. ;D
loreta said:
Same here. The butcher gave me an
when I asked for the fattest pieces of meat he had. He also gave me a odd look when I asked him for marrow bones for my bone broth but I'm sure he'll get used to it.I think that in a scenario where meat prices were to rise considerably, local butchers may still sell fat pieces at a lower price as demand is usually low (not sure about stores though).
I just came from my butcher and asked him if there is a problem with pigs in Spain. I told him that in England they started to have problems with bacon. He told me that in Spain yes, there is a bit problem. Butchers here make money with pigs doing jamón, sort of prosciouto. Ham. Since those jamones are expensive and the economy is not good people buy less jamones. Since this, the meat of pork is more expensive. So, they kill less and less pigs. Even then, my butcher have difficulty in understanding what is really happening. But this is what he told me. When I asked him if there would be a possibility to have, in the future, difficulty finding bacon he told me "I don't think so, I think so that next year it will be better". 
I don't think so... Next year will be worst, I am sure. :O
I don't think so... Next year will be worst, I am sure. :O
paralleloscope
The Living Force
I remember camping in the pyrenees, people were coming in over the border just to get their good and relatively cheap jamón's. It's a very nice delicacy from that region which EU has made very difficult (for one because they don't use additives) and expensive to import and probably also export. It's more expensive than regular cuts to produce as it need's at least a year to cure and it looked like it was or had been part of the regions stable diet for ages, but most probably as prices soar, cheaper carb and gluten products will be preferred by the addicted citizens.loreta said:
But they must cull them then? (as it's expensive to feed them) or is there an abundance of pasture there and pigs can be left to their own devices?loreta said:
parallel said:
You are right about people preferring carbohydrates: the doctors are frenetic telling people that the best way to fight cancer or illness is eating vegetables and fruits. So jamones is a food that is almost a sin to eat. But I think it is the world economic situation also that make exportation difficult. Those jamones are relatively expensive. Around 150 euros a good jamón.
I don't know about culling, really. What the butcher told me is that since everything is difficult due to economic problems they are killing less pigs. So because they are killing less the pork meat is more expensive. What I see in my region is pigs have a big space to eat and live, the pasture is abundant.
It’s scary news for bacon fans: The U.S. could see tight supplies, or even some shortages of pork bellies along with ham next year as the spread of a pig-killing disease in China ripples through the global market.
That’s according to Smithfield Foods Inc., the world’s biggest pork producer. While China’s hog crisis hasn’t had much impact on the U.S. market yet, that could change in 2020 as the Asian nation is forced to increase imports even more in the face a prolonged protein deficit, said Arnold Silver, director of raw materials procurement at Smithfield, which is owned by Hong Kong-listed WH Group Ltd.
The Chinese “are insatiable in their appetite for pork,” Silver said at the Urner Barry Global Protein Summit in Chicago, which took place Monday and Tuesday.
Smithfield will prioritize supplying its long-held U.S. customer base before directing meat for export to China, Silver said. But strong demand from Asia means more U.S. pork exports could flow to the Asian country, and some cuts of meat could face particular tightness. China often buys whole or half carcasses. However, hams will also be especially in demand, Silver said.
That outlook comes even as China maintains its retaliatory tariffs against U.S. pork shipments. If the duties are lifted, American exports will increase even more, Silver said.
The U.S. Meat Export Federation also expects increased Chinese buying in 2020. American pork exports to the world will likely see 12% growth in 2019 and 13% growth in 2020, reaching 3.1 million metric tons, with China driving much of the increase, Erin Borror, an economist with the group, said at the Urner Barry conference. That forecast assumes the trade war will persist.
If Chinese buying takes off, there are limitations to how quickly producers can ramp up supplies, Smithfield’s Silver said. Output was able to grow 4% this year, but the rate will likely drop to 2% in 2020, he said.
African swine fever has killed millions of hogs in China and elsewhere in Asia, sparking the need for more imports. China’s pork production will probably be down 32 million tons or more in 2020, Brett Stuart, founding partner of consultant Global AgriTrends, said Monday at the Chicago conference. The spread of the pig disease has created a “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” for U.S. farmers, the National Pork Producers Council has said as it lobbied for a trade deal with China that would remove tariff barriers.
Oh man! Stacking.
