(Zero Hedge)—As US consumers shift from beef to chicken due to elevated supermarket prices, exacerbated by a rapid decline in US cattle herds, one of the world’s largest chicken producers has issued a dire warning that chicken prices could soon increase.
Bloomberg reports that Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. and the industry as a whole have developed ‘hatchery issues’, which means a large number of eggs in incubators aren’t hatching.
On Thursday, Pilgrim’s Chief Executive Officer Fabio Sandri told investors during an earnings call that the hatchery issues stem from a new breed of rooster (Frankenchickens?) that requires closer management, indicating this is the primary cause of the decline in fertility rates industrywide.
“We don’t have the housing to separate the males by weight. We don’t have the labor to individually weigh all those males to make sure that they are at the optimal weight for reproduction,” Sandri said.
Pilgrim said because of hatchery issues, chicken production nationwide is projected to grow much less than the US Department of Agriculture’s 1.5% estimate.
USDA data shows that the number of eggs hatched began dropping right after the Covid pandemic in late 2020, from 81.5% to now 76.5%. That compares with averages above 80% over the last decade.
“The hurdle to expand production comes at a time when consumers are turning to poultry as they seek cheaper alternatives to beef,” Bloomberg noted.
Retail prices of chicken boneless breast, measured by USDA, surged from about $3 a pound in early 2020 to $4.75 a pound in September 2022, primarily due to commercial farms culling large flocks due to the bird flu. Prices have since subsided to about $4.1 a pound but risk moving higher on lower production trends.
Meanwhile, consumers have been shocked by skyrocketing beef prices as the nation’s herd size recently plunged to 73-year lows.
And the UN’s global food index risks turning back up as stagflationary threats emerge in the US economy.
Meat prices are becoming super expensive for working poor households. Bill Gates is getting his wish…
Independent Journalism Is Dying
Ever since President Trump’s miraculous victory, we’ve heard an incessant drumbeat about how legacy media is dying. This is true. The people have awakened to the reality that they’re being lied to by the self-proclaimed “Arbiters of Truth” for the sake of political expediency, corporate self-protection, and globalist ambitions.
But even as independent journalism rises to fill the void left by legacy media, there is still a huge challenge. Those at the top of independent media like Joe Rogan, Dan Bongino, and Tucker Carlson are thriving and rightly so. They have earned their audience and the financial rewards that come from it. They’ve taken risks and worked hard to get to where they are.
For “the rest of us,” legacy media and their proxies are making it exceptionally difficult to survive, let alone thrive. They still have a stranglehold over the “fact checkers” who have a dramatic impact on readership and viewership. YouTube, Facebook, and Google still stifle us. The freer speech platforms like Rumble and 𝕏 can only reward so many of their popular content creators. For independent journalists on the outside looking in, our only recourse is to rely on affiliates and sponsors.
But even as it seems nearly impossible to make a living, there are blessings that should not be disregarded. By highlighting strong sponsors who share our America First worldview, we have been able to make lifelong connections and even a bit of revenue to help us along. This is why we enjoy symbiotic relationships with companies like MyPillow, Jase Medical, and Promised Grounds. We help them with our recommendations and they reward us with money when our audience buys from them.
The same can be said about our preparedness sponsor, Prepper All-Naturals. Their long-term storage beef has a 25-year shelf life and is made with one ingredient: All-American Beef.
Even our faith-driven precious metals sponsor helps us tremendously while also helping Americans protect their life’s savings. We are blessed to work with them.
Independent media is the future. In many ways, that future is already here. While the phrase, “the more the merrier,” does not apply to this business because there are still some bad actors in the independent media field, there are many great ones that do not get nearly enough attention. We hope to change that one content creator at a time.
Thank you and God Bless,
JD Rucker
entlemen
I wanted to report to you that we have a revolutionary technology that should solve a very serious problem of hatcheries, which produce chicks for the fattening market and more.
As we know, the hatching of the chicks and the distribution of the species there is in a ratio of 50/50 for males and females. just what? the eliminated males. This resulted in a waste of close to fifty percent of the production expenses of the breeders and hatcheries.
If so, we have a technology that allows a guarantee of over ninety percent hatching of females only. A market estimated at billions in the world. Our technology does not use any external material or energy!!
We are looking for a strategic partner to implement the technology in the world.
We will be happy to respond
Best regards, Yoav