The 2008-2009 recession demonstrated that ground beef typically performs well during challenging financial periods. Between October 2007 and September 2008, values for source ground beef product from the chuck and round primals peaked. Prices softened during 2009, but remained at a 5% premium over 85% trim; as consumer confidence rose and demand increased for higher-value middle meat primals. Beginning in 2010, consumer sentiment slowly shifted, and source ground beef prices moved higher into a new trading range by the end of 2013...

Statistics Canada released their 2022 consumption data earlier this week. In contrast to the last couple of years, this year’s report is being seen as mostly positive for all major Canadian animal proteins. Total consumption of beef, pork, poultry, and seafish was up 3.8% to almost 80 kg/person retail weight. In terms of per person protein consumption, pork led the way with a 6.6% jump to 15.3 kg/person, followed by beef with a 2.9% increase to 17.5 kg/person and poultry up 1.8% to 41.3 kg/person...

La Niña is done, and we now await the establishment of El Niño which will occur during the months ahead – we have already seen the atmosphere behave more like El Niño since May.
Other than normal changes in seasons, El Niño/La Niña is the biggest driver of Earth’s storm patterns. Historically, Western and Central Canada are the most affected by El Niño, which is during winter and spring; milder than normal winters and springs occur. Generally, El Niño does not significantly impact Eastern Canada other than a tendency to reduce hurricane activity in the Atlantic Ocean...