CoBank Lead Animal Protein Economist Will Sawyer says rising feed costs are challenging livestock producers in the first quarter of the new year.

“We expect about 25 percent inflation in the feed cost arena for beef, pork and chicken producers,” he says. “That’s the highest amount of inflation in over a decade.”

But, Sawyer says there are still positive signs at the start of 2021.  

“It’s been remarkable how strong meat prices—beef, pork, and chicken—have been in the first 5 or 6 weeks of the year,” he says.

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