Bacon and Pork Shortage?

I was reading an online article on my local newspaper's website and I ran across the following article about some upcoming sort of bacon and pork shortage:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/while+tasty+bacon+recipes/7304204/story.html

Has anyone else heard anything about this? (And should I start stocking up on pigsicles, butts and chops? )

CanadaBBQGuy wrote:

I was reading an online article on my local newspaper's website and I ran across the following article about some upcoming sort of bacon and pork shortage:
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/life/while+tasty+bacon+recipes/7304204/story.html

Has anyone else heard anything about this? (And should I start stocking up on pigsicles, butts and chops? )

I've read the same thing....It's quite sad....

Hey Canada! This story is all over the news here. They're saying that the weather upset the corn production, which effects the food supply for the hogs, which results in significant herd reductions. Hence, a serious shortage. Also, the hurt will come most in this following year, rather than immediately. Perhaps turkey or beef bacon will come in to fill the void, though admittedly that's not quite the same thing.

3 words:

Stock.
Up.
Now.

Yeesh - that sounds nasty. And I'm eating a bit of grilled pork tenderloin while typing this, too. Mmmmm - if you grill it just right, it's perfection. Low-fat, pure protein perfection.

(Oh - and that was a Berkshire pork tenderloin to boot - finally got my hands on a few of 'em)

Funny, though. I just checked another news article up here and we're having an above-average grain harvest. It makes me wonder if my area will be less-severely affected. Corn farms up here look just fine (and yes, we grow a lot of corn up here in Alberta). Maybe they'll ship the surplus down south to the US.

There are several medium-sized pork farms near my place and I know a lot of the owners, so it also makes me wonder if they couldn't try some alternative feeds. Pigs will eat practically anything - corn is just used to really fatten them up. Some of the farmers nearby also feed them corn stalks (or silage) and other veggie "waste" as a substantial part of their diet and save the grain or corn for fattening time. The pork is a bit leaner but tastes great.

Maybe that's also an argument against the big corporate farms, too. The smaller outfits up here seem to be able to adapt a lot better to crises like this. There are likely a whole lot of reasons behind that, but one of my neighbors (the Berkshire pig farmer) explained that it's easier for him to switch feed for his 100-pig operation than it is for a big agribusiness with 20,000 pigs (call it reverse economy of scale). Plus, since he's able to grow his own feed, the effect of a corn shortage is really lessened.

But yes, I'll be stocking up a bit more this weekend too.

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/ ... pork_.html

It is a scam. Prices will go up though.

I saw something on TV this morning where a spokesperson for some national pork association said it was true, but it was also being overblown here in the US. He said the shortages will mostly occur in Europe. The US will have an adequate supply, but the prices could go up $.50 to a dollar a pound for bacon for example.

Jim

SCmustardman wrote:

http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/09/unavoidable_bacon_shortage_u_k_s_national_pig_association_has_everyone_worried_about_the_price_of_pork_.html

It is a scam. Prices will go up though.

Thanks, SCmustardman! I ought to send this to my local paper and tell them to get their heads out of their... umm.. to stop scaremongering and check their sources.

stock up and make bacon......easy guys this a g rated site i make my own bacon

timbarber84 wrote:

stock up and make bacon......easy guys this a g rated site i make my own bacon

Actually, that's not such a difficult thing (and I mean curing bacon and other meats as opposed to "makin' bacon").

I've home cured quite a few slabs of both side and back bacon as well as a few hams. Until you get the hang of it, home-cured meats can be a bit saltier than commercial meats and they need to be cold-smoked rather than hot-smoket, but you're able to control the amount and type of smoke more accurately once you get the hang of it.

I might just stock up on a bit more pork this winter solely for home-curing instead - it's often cheaper than the commercial product anyway.

I don't agree with this at all but we buy from local pork farmers and butcher/package it ourselves.
A 250lb pig is still only about $150.

p-nut wrote:

I don't agree with this at all but we buy from local pork farmers and butcher/package it ourselves.
A 250lb pig is still only about $150.

We've got similar rates up here so I might be considering that too.