What impact is the whole vegetarian/vegan diet having on the price of meat?

Submitted ⁨⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Servomoore@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨[deleted]⁩

My intial assumption was that fewer people eating meat means lower prices because of a larger supply for lower demand. But of course it might mean fewers ranchers and companies investing in livestock in the first place because fewer expect to make a profit on it. What’s the market analysis say to anyone familiar with it?

source

Comments

Sort:hotnew top

Feyd@programming.dev ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’m the US at least, animal agriculture is heavily subsidized, so consumers don’t see what it actually costs. Supply/demand economics everyone learned in school rarely applied amidst the chicanery rampant everywhere.

source
- Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I came to say something similar. It’s been heavily subsidized for a very long time too. Like, near a hundred years long time.
  
  source
zxqwas@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
If a lot of people suddenly stopped consuming anything there would be a drop in price. The producers don’t have time to adapt.

One person per day for a year stopping consuming something will make no difference.

A large percent of the population consuming less may make it more expensive.

When it comes to agriculture it’s harder to predict. Not all land is suitable for soy beans and not all land is suitable for cattle.

source
- litchralee@sh.itjust.works ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  If a lot of people suddenly stopped consuming anything there would be a drop in price. The producers don’t have time to adapt.
  
  This is generally correct, but with a somewhat-rare caveat. If the product was priced as the sum of variable costs (eg unit cost of fuel to yield 1 kWh of electricity) and of fixed costs (eg price to build a power generating station that will last for 20 years), then a reduction in consumption can actually cause an increase in per-unit costs for the remaining consumers.
  
  This is precisely what is playing out in California with the incumbent electricity provider, PG&E. For arcane reasons, their regulated monopoly allows them to undertake large-scale construction projects, with a guaranteed rate of return (aka fixed cost) passed onto consumers. But since solar installations have smashed even the most optimistic expectations, demand for fossil fuels generation is slowing. But because a power plant running at 50% output still needs to pay off 100% of its loan payments, PG&E is using the situation to try to hike consumer rates even more. You know, to pay for those large projects that PG&E owns…
  
  At the end of the day, non-solar consumers are being asked to shoulder more of the burden despite falling electricity demand (pre AI), but it’s not caused by solar early-adopters, but due to PG&E’s own greed and desire for guaranteed profit.
  
  TL;DR: prices will usually go down when consumption goes down, unless a monopoly is trying to save their own skin. PG&E should be dissolved.
  
  source
  - classic@fedia.io ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Man are PGE not the good guys…
    
    source
- TranquilTurbulence@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  When taken to extreme, the pieces could also rise.
  
  Imagine that meat demand drops gradually over a few decades, and meat production adapts to it. As a result, the whole industry begins to lose the economies of scale. After a century of this kind of development, meat is produced by a handful of small farms, where the operational costs per mass unit of meat produced are very high. If that ever happens, meat would become a special ingredient most people don’t want. Those few who still do want it, are willing to pay absurd prices for it.
  
  source
Nemo@slrpnk.net ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Well it’s certainly lowered my grocery budget.

source
Ice@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Compared to the massive increase of meat consumption in the population-dense developing world & other major influences on price such as improvements in the efficiency of meat production, the impact of the veg-movement is nigh negligible.

The price impact is rather on the side of restaurants & grocery chains in their logistics, now requiring a more diverse offering to be able to serve both the traditional clientele and veg-customers. Spreading the same demand over a larger range of products leads to a lower per-item throughput. Hence slightly lower efficiency, more waste & more overhead, which leads to marginally increased food prices overall in western countries.

source
- DarthFrodo@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Meat production currently increases by about 2-6% per year globally, while plant-based meat alternatives are growing 9-12% per year, though still much smaller in absolute terms for now. If meat alternatives keep dropping in price as production scales and supply chains mature, it might soon have an advantage, especially in emerging markets.
  
  Store brand meat alternatives have already reached the price of their “real” meat counterparts here in Germany. Some are even a bit cheaper. It will be interesting to see the medium to long term impact of this on the meat market.
  
  source
The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Impact on price: probably negligible.

Impact on production: the average amount of meat that 1 person eats x the number of people choosing alternatives, over a period of time.

source
- commie@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  production isn’t determined by consumption
  
  source
  - The_Picard_Maneuver@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    How would it not be? Every industry creates product to meet demand. They aren’t going to produce more or less just for fun.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
SolidShake@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
It’s not doing anything. Still millions and millions of people buying meat

source
IWW4@lemmy.zip ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Absolutely no impact at all.

source
- Paranoidfactoid@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Should lower the price of meat with fewer customers for it.
  
  source
  - IWW4@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    … it hasn’t lowered the customer numbers an iota.
    
    source
    -> View More Comments
daychilde@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’d imagine this would be neigh on impossible to measure, but one can generalize some basics. COVID caused massive drops in transportation, so gas prices went down due to less demand.

A truly drastic drop in demand for meat would cause prices to drop. Eventually, some producers would probably stop producing. So eventually, less would be produced. However, a drop in price will increase usage among those who were sensitive to the price, which would limit the reduction in production.

source
- AmidFuror@fedia.io ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  What about horse meat?
  
  source
HubertManne@piefed.social ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Im not sure its all that much than previously. Things like this tend to skew young and many folks don’t go the distance. 1% of purchasing is not going to move the needle all that much.

source
BCsven@lemmy.ca ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
As time moves on and more people might choose a meatless diet, there will be adjustments in pricing with less meat productuon, but also offset by land price probably dropping, since cattle farming takes a lot of crops and space to convert approx 16g of veg protein to 1g of beef protein.

source
FelixCress@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
There is no impact.

source
finallymadeanaccount@lemmy.world ⁨4⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Not a sausage.

source