Thanks for the articles Wellie,
The combination of drought in areas of the US, the rapid build up of mandating ethanol from corn, a few winter storms and the pig virus have led us here. Most of this was predicted 3 years ago. Mandating ethanol from corn required more corn, so prices went up, so more land was put into production. The drought in concert with much higher feed prices caused herds to be reduced. Add a couple of storms (last one of note was last October in and around South Dakota) that killed thousands of animals and you have a further reduction in marketable cattle. Add in the hog issue and peoples changing tastes in food.
It is all coming to a head this year because people have finally woken up. Restaurants in my area have increased prices around 15% this year, whether from regulations, wages or food costs I don't know. It is definitely having an affect, fewer people eating out.
Hard to say how long this will last, everything goes in cycles - feast or famine. In a year or two we might see corn back in the low $2.00 range. That will help animal feed, so herds can be increased, but at that price some land may be put to other use, cutting production. And the cycle will be repeated. Herds increase, then prices drop, then herds decrease and so on.
here is a link for a historical chart on corn prices.
http://www.farmdoc.illinois.edu/manage/uspricehistory/USPrice.asp
