One of the more difficult aspects of agricultural economics is connecting between the production side of agriculture and the consumption of what we grow.  It seems every week I talk about the dynamics of pricing and the dynamics of how much production we have in some attempt to explain away how we can reach greater profitability. As you all know it’s a challenge in farming because of all the risks we take. Needless to say, if we aren’t profitable sooner or later, we no longer will be able to farm.
 
     For instance, if you look at our corn consumption from USDA this year, we’re looking at a total use of 16.470 billion bushels.  That is an incredible usage, and we will discuss later this year whether we produce enough corn to satisfy this demand.  However, that’s talking from 30,000 feet. Sometimes I like to break it down to the 24 inches between you and the dinner table. Simply put, the closer we can get to the dinner table the more profitable we all would be.
 
      I know some of you, but of course I’ll never know all of you. Needless to say, I know that I have a non-homogeneous audience when it comes to what you eat even though most of you are farmers and Agri business professionals. Every day, you likely sit down to eat a plate which contains some type of protein whether that is beef, pork, chicken, or some type of fish. There might even be some to you who only eat plant protein.  When I look at the 6.2 billion bushels of corn it goes to feed according to the USDA I do think of beef, pork chicken and even fish at the other end, constantly chewing to produce something that reaches our dinner table
 
     I was thinking about this recently after seeing an advertisement for bread with an increased protein component. Keep in mind, I assume that this bread has a higher protein component, but I’m biased enough to think that it is one way for “big grocery” to segment the bread market to raise prices and make even more money.  I don’t think it would be reaching the wheat farmer. However, when you think of protein, you think of beef, chicken, pork, and fish. The dynamics of changing consumer preferences have huge impacts on those four protein sources. 
 
      I don’t talk about beef prices very much, but we know that we have seen record beef prices over the last year. For some of the beef industry this has been the best of times. However, one thing that I found incredibly interesting is when do the good times end.  For instance, I hear from my consumer friends that they cannot afford the price of beef. At the same time, I’m thinking if they cannot afford the price of beef what are they eating instead?  Well, invariably it is a lot of chicken.   Chicken consumption has exploded over the last several decades.
 
     Some of you might think that chicken is delicious and then of course you have me that think it’s both delicious and interesting.  For instance, a few decades ago, whole chickens were almost the total package available at your local grocery store. Today, at the grocery store you have the whole chicken cut ups, available in nugget form, tenders, or a whole host of other variations of chicken.  In fact, a large percentage of chicken up to 50% is processed before it reaches the grocery store.  It’s done in secondary processing that makes it easier to go from raw material to food.  In other words, chicken isn’t necessarily chicken anymore.   It’s so much more whether that’s a chicken sandwich at your local fast-food outlet or a box of different flavored chicken products available at your grocery store.
 
     Keep in mind this is a very big deal and there’s lots of value added with the chicken to satisfy pallets as well as boost employment and possibly getting some of this money back on the farm. For instance, when it comes to beef, we all know about the different cuts of beef. We know about steaks and how they are looked at as a premium product for many people.   There are similar ideas floating around about pork.  Of course, when it comes to fish and seafood protein there is so much more available now through secondary processing.  Simply put, the animal protein market is diverse, constantly changing and of course in need of the grains that we grow.
 
      This is meant changing animal genetics to satisfy some of these market segments. The North American consumer might prefer white meat versus dark meat but in other jurisdictions around the world it’s not quite like that.  For instance, when your loyal scribe visits Bangladesh I eat fish followed by chicken, followed by beef. Pork isn’t a thing in a Muslim country.  Developing protein sources to satisfy these needs is all-encompassing sometimes changing the animals themselves then of course changing production systems and marketing channels
 
     Livestock producers watch these trends closely. Ditto for industry groups involved in supply management in Canada. Grain producers likely don’t watch those trends as much, simply because it’s not top of mind when we’re not that close to the dinner table.  However, it’s very important that we have an appreciation of it because “feed demand” is so much more than a number.  It’s more like a starting point, which will evolve overtime with the protein industry.
 
       Keep in mind with the myriad of problems we have with low prices in agriculture, you sometimes hear we can’t eat our way out of this problem.  At the same time livestock industry encourage us to eat more beef, chicken, and pork. The protein industries are not static end users.  They are dynamic, innovative, and constantly adjusting to what consumers want next. If consumers shift from beef to chicken, genetics change, barns get built, processing lines expand, and grain flows in different directions. If value-added protein products multiply on grocery shelves, that ripple works its way back through packers, processors, feeders, and ultimately to the field.  As farmers we need to appreciate the connection.