Beef prices have reportedly hit a new high

[bluemingidiot]

Retailing at $8 per pound to beat the COVID-19 pandemic record by 10 cents, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture analyzed by the Financial Times.  This comes as the “southwestern U.S. recovers from [the] worst dry spell in 1,200 years.

Was this dry spell caused by fossil fuels?  If so, what caused the dry spell 1,200 years ago?

[Maura]

The prices to the consumer have gone up, but this is because the big processors have driven out the small ranchers.

[countrymom22]

It's also because so many cows were slaughtered because the ranchers couldn't feed them during the drought. Now we are living through the in between time while the herds are built back up.

[ohiodreamer]

countrymom22, exactly...and the drought isn't over, yet.