Matt Perrier, a Kansas Rancher spoke with Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays about producer profitability during the LMA Convention held in downtown Oklahoma City this past month.
Perrier is a past president of the Kansas Livestock Association, currently serves on the Kansas Beef Council Executive Committee, and has served on various local, state and national boards in the livestock industry.
Perrier encouraged producers to be proactive in positively affecting their individual profitability on their own. He said, “Producer profitability comes from a lot of directions and there are a lot of directions that it goes to. No two segments, regions, or cattle producers within a neighborhood are the same. There are plenty of things in the beef industry that are challenges that affect producer profitability, and we tend to dwell on those instead of asking, ‘What is the environment? What is the market? What are the opportunities telling us that we need to do to positively affect profitability.’”
Typical to the Capitalist country that the U.S. is, not everyone is going to profit; however, when taking into account sustainability, long term profitability is the most important piece. Regardless of a producer’s choice of lifestyle or stewardship methods, if they don’t profit enough, they aren’t going to continue.
One positive effect on profitability is the consistency in producing quality beef. “When you know that you have a 20 or 30 percent chance of getting steak that isn’t a tasty eating experience for you and your family, when prices go up, you are trading down to pork or poultry.”
Recently, consumers have been willing to pay more for beef than Perrier ever thought possible and he contributes that to the consumer counting on the fact that that their beef will taste just as good as it did the last time.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
