Processing changes may not mean better capacity alignment

The meat industry will see a number of processing initiatives taking effect over the next 12 months, all of them designed to create greater efficiency for their owners. They may not necessarily lead to better alignment of capacity

Some simple ways to improve the meat industry

Much is said and written about the cost to the farmer and industry as a whole of overcapacity, while many commentators see fundamental changes to the selling, processing and procurement structure as the only way to solve the problem. There are many suggestions ranging from single desk selling to company mergers to consumer led breeding and marketing of ‘designer’ products.

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No easy fix for the meat industry

The amount of hot air forecasting the imminent death of the meat industry suggests desperate hand wringing more than considered thoughts about finding a solution to what everybody agrees is a big problem. The only snag is, while the hot air purveyors seem to know exactly what the problem is and whose fault it is, their heavy breathing doesn’t produce any sensible ideas about how to fix it.