Probably most people watching this video have noticed that the price of beef has significantly

increased in the last little while. I mean, just in the last few weeks alone, a stake that would

have cost me, let's say, like, $12, now costs $16 to $18. Also, packets of ground beef have gone

out by like 20%. And data from the USDA, it shows that this is

not a small phenomenon here in New York. Instead, the price of ground beef and beef in general

has actually shot up quite a lot since the beginning of 2025. And if you're just listening to

this episode and you don't see the graph that's up on the screen, it's basically a straight line up from January up until right now.

Now, according to this report from the USDA, one of the main drivers of this price hike is simple supply and demand.

There's a lot of demand, but also at the same time, there's a record low in terms of the number of beef cattle.

Quote, there were 94.2 million head of cattle and calves on U.S.

farms as of July 1st, 2025. That is, just for your reference, the lowest July mid-year headcount

since the year 1973, back when the U.S. population was 211 million people. Now, the reason for

this cattle shortage is multifaceted,

and it partly stems from what's been happening in this country for the last three or four years,

both economically and then also just in terms of the weather. Now, in regards to the weather,

you might remember that there were severe drought conditions in both the western and southwestern parts of the U.S. several

years ago. That was when, among many other things, you had Lake Mead nearly completely dry up

to the point where you could just walk around the lake bed and find capsized boats that had been

lying there for like 25 years. Now, this lack of water, it hurt the cattle industry significantly. You then

combine that lack of water with record high inflation that was hitting everyone, including

farmers and ranchers during that period of time. And many people, they chose to just sell

their cattle instead of raising them to market. In fact, back in 2022, during the height of the drought,

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