Per-animal production may be approaching the limits of beef cattle’s ability, while straining the outer limits of the industry’s economic model.'Whave celebrated per-animal produc-tion as if it is the Holy Grail of livestock production,” says TomField, director of the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Nebraska. “It serves as the basis for our sustainability message, our pride in being productive and the pride we take in feeding people.” Increased production peranimal unit has been the basis of economic survival, too. Since commodity prices hover around the cost of production, by and large, the only way to increase financial return is to increase production relative to the same or similar cost.
展开▼
