The characterization of those who do contract to raise hogs for Smithfield as serfs is certainly overblown...
While it is contractual and Smithfield does supply the genetics, there's more to it than one may think in terms of day-to-day operation.
The advantage is a more stable market than trying to raise hogs totally independently and sell them on the open market. There's being at the mercy with no control...
I understand that they received some of the new Trump welfare for farmers too, that he's handed out over the last couple years to try to cover the effects of his disasterous trade war, courtesy of US taxpayers.
Overcook ANYTHING and it looses palatability
Well I can tell you that for a large number of farmers it is wrong. For some it is right. "factory farms" are basically what you say - they are "contract farmers"
Up here in Canada we have marketing boards. A farmer can grow pigs and deliver them to the marketing board yards where they are sold to the processors. Same goes for eggs and dairy.He can raise beef and deliver it to the stock-yards for sale or have it slaughtered and sell it off the farm Or he can contract with a company to feed their feed to their chickens or pigs in the farmer's own barn and get paid so much per pig or bird (or pound of) when they ship out.
A farmer can grow corn or wheat or soybeans or whatever and sell it on the open market or he can be on contract - where the "customer" supplies the feed and fertilizer and the farmer provides the land and equipment and labour to grow the crop. He may harvest it or the "customer" may harvest it - and the farmer gets paid by the bushel or ton for what is under contract, and gets to sell any surplus on the open market. A friend grows oats, barley, and soy for a seed company. They will buy the first X# of tons for an agreed price, and my friend sells the rest on the open market for whatever he can get - he can buy and sell futures or whatever he wants. His land is better than average and well drained so he usually has a pretty good "surplus" crop to sell at the end of the year.
When I was on the farm the dairy was on quota - so we knew what we were geting for every ton of milk. The pigs wentto the marketing board and any spare hay, straw, corn or grain that we had surplus to our requiremrnts was sold on the open market and if we had a shortfall we bought on the open market.
That's a small step up from sharecropping I guess.
Yeah, just like those hogs in the Deadwood series.
Actually a pretty big step. Farmer owns the land. Farmer gets a good guaranteed return on his crop, with the possibility of making even more. Particularly when you have good land you usually end up with a good surplus in years when crops are generally poor and prices high. On years where crops are generally good and prices are down you make it up on volume. It's a good living if you can offord to get into it but the price to get in is steep.
There's the rub. Unless he inherited it the farmer buys the land at top dollar, pays the taxes on it, buys and maintains the expensive machinery, and maybe breaks even. Some might do okay but it's probably like owner-operators: an honest accountant would tell them they're crazy.
Those of my generation were able to buy land at close to a reasonable price and the price has skyrocketed. They are now land rich and cash poor. If they were smart they'd sell the land and live well off the procedes. My friend will be passing the farm on to his daughter who is now running a small greenhouse / truck farm/ flower farm as well as a cake baking/pastry chef business on the premises as well as running a small heard of goats. She's a military vet and courdon Bleu chef - expecting first child within a couple weeks. She's living in the main farm house and they have a new "granny flat" across the lane and they are building a new storage building which will likely eventually have a farm store in it - in place of the 100+ year old barn they just tore down. The 40 year old dairy barn houses the goats. 240 acres, 140 at home and 100 about 6 miles away.
That's the problem here. Grow alfalfa or McMansions? No contest. I went to school with a lot of farm kids and not many of them carried on. When the government was buying out dairy herds in the '80s they bailed. A small herd on 100 acres meant they were working day jobs to keep it afloat.
The only difference in upstate NY is there isn't much of a market for McMansions. Last time I was back was 15 years ago and the only thing that had changed was more factories were growing weeds in the parking lot.
Did anyone confirm that they are really fattier now?
All we have is todesco saying so and Scott thinks he's trolling.
I don't eat them so I can't add any facts.
Pork chops with no fat don't have much flavor - doesnt make any sense to wrap them in bacon. That said, American hogs have historically been MUCH fattier than Canadian hogs
On 4/14/2020 12:55 PM, Clare Snyder wrote: ...
That's where a large amount of flavor comes from in all red meats; which is why before the health fads beef was considered only to be properly finished when was significant marbling present.
For hogs, 50 years ago, _maybe_, but would impossible to generalize that much even then I think.
And certainly not in the last 20-30 with the cholesterol flap and subsequent trends, been completely the other direction.
I buy boneless pork loins , cut 'em up at home to our specs . There is usually a thin rind of fat , seldom over 1/4 inch thick . Just enough to baste them as they cook on the grill .
I do the same. Very versatile to use as a roast, chops, thin sliced for piccata. Price is usually good too. I've also cured it for Canadian bacon. Always have a piece of it in the freezer.
We've got probably 16 or so packages of 2 1" thick loin steaks in the freezer , part of the last big meat sale back in March . WE have decided that loin roasts are not a favorite , so I cut it all into steaks now . We do have some pork sirloin roasts though . I try to keep a supply of the meats we like on hand . Ya never know when you're gonna get attacked by a virus or something and NEED those stockpiles ... which reminds me , I need to resupply the stock of country style pork ribs on our next shopping trip .
Yes, iirc the difference between choice and prime is how much marbling there is. Little veins of fat through the meat.
When sides of beef were shipped east from Omaha, there was plenty of fat.
But to save space, lower shipping cost, more beef is buchered to a greater degree than 10 or 20 years ago, and not even in Chicago I think but west of there, in Omaha or some place, and what shows up in Baltimore has too much fat trimmed off. Also a lot have the bone removed, and then they charge more per pound. That's fair becuase you can't eat the bone but it's bad because I enjoy eating around the bone and the meet next to the bone is the best.
I DID say "historically".I know it was true in the sixties when I was on the farm, and up into the seventies. The American feed regime was different back then - back before the factory farms took over.
I don't eat much meat anymore but I'll take a shoulder over those CostCo loins in the plastic bags. They're some dry eating. Now a shoulder, you smoke it over a slow fire for eight hours or so and you've got something.
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