Ribeye on the Prize

“A small number of firms still control most of the country’s – and by now the world’s – beef. They draw from many comparatively small ranchers and cattle feeders, and depend on a low-paid, mostly invisible workforce. The fact that this set of relationships remains so stable, despite the public’s abstract sense that something is not quite right, is not the inevitable consequence of technological change but the direct result of the political struggles of the late 19th century.” Adapted from his new book on the topic, Joshua Specht on The price of plenty: how beef changed America. “Exploitation and predatory pricing drove the transformation of the US beef industry – and created the model for modern agribusiness.” For more, here’s the book: Red Meat Republic: A Hoof-to-Table History of How Beef Changed America.