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Direct to Consumer Beef Cost and Price Calculator

Bernt Nelson and Steve Richards

Summary

Locally raised beef has become more popular recently, especially in 2020 when the meat supply was temporarily interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many livestock producers are (or are considering) transitioning to selling some of their animals directly to consumers as meat products.
Livestock producers are an underserved audience, as defined by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. This is due, in part, to the fact that many livestock producers have small, part-time operations. Often, these smaller producers do not have a firm grasp on their production costs. The purpose of this project was to create a tool to help beef producers make better decisions by tracking production costs from stocker calf all the way through to retail meat cuts.
This poster session will review Clemson Agribusiness Team’s Beef Cost and Price Calculator – a spreadsheet tool that extension personnel use to help beef producers decide if direct to consumer marketing has profit potential for their operations. This tool helps illustrate how much producers need to charge for retail cuts as well as bulk beef being sold as partial or whole carcasses. In addition, the Beef Cost Calculator can provide consumers with a way to compare the tradeoffs of purchasing locally raised beef instead of retail beef at the grocery store.
Check out this poster session to see this production, financial, and marketing risk management tool that has been used successfully in South Carolina. Get a copy to use with producers in as part of your state’s extension program.

Details

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