U.S. red meat exports bring significant returns to corn, soy growers

Apr 01, 2024

Beef and pork exports of $18.1 billion in 2023 had a significant impact on the corn and soybean industries, according to an independent study conducted by The Juday Group and released by the U.S. Meat Export Federation. The study quantified the returns that beef and pork exports brought to corn and soybean producers nationally and on a state-by-state level for leading corn and soybean-producing states.

Nationally, U.S. pork and beef exports contributed an estimated total economic impact of 14.6% per bushel to the value of corn and 13.9% per bushel to soybeans in 2023, according to the study.

“We’ve been charting the impact of red meat exports on corn and soybean value since 2016. Despite the international headwinds the red meat industry faced in 2023, red meat exports contributed substantially to the bushel values of U.S. corn and soybeans,” says Dave Juday of The Juday Group.

The quality of U.S. corn and soybeans as feed inputs is a key differentiator for U.S. red meat in international markets, says USMEF Chair Randy Spronk, a pork and grain producer from Edgerton, Minnesota.

“Our production practices and the quality of our feed inputs is an important part of the story that USMEF promotes to international customers,” says Spronk. “How we raise our soybeans, how we raise our corn, how we process our feed and the efficiencies we strive for ‒ those are sustainable practices that help differentiate us from other beef and pork exporters.”

Key findings from the study, which utilized 2023 statistics provided by USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service and data compiled by The Juday Group, include:

Exporting corn through U.S. beef and pork

Beef and pork exports accounted for 512.7 million bushels of U.S. corn usage, which equated to a market value of $3.05 billion (at an average 2023 corn price of $5.95 per bushel).
Beef and pork exports accounted for 3.07 million tons of distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) usage, equating to $671.62 million (at an average price of $219 per ton).
Beef and pork exports contributed an estimated total economic impact of 14.6%, or $0.87, of bushel value at an average price of $5.95 per bushel.

Click here to see more...

Video: Making budget friendly pig feed on a small livestock farm

I am going to show you how we save our farm money by making our own pig feed. It's the same process as making our cattle feed just with a slight adjustment to our grinder/ mixer that makes all the difference. We buy all the feed stuff required to make the total mix feed. Run each through the mixer and at the end of the process we have a product that can be consumed by our pigs.

I am the 2nd generation to live on this property after my parents purchased it in 1978. As a child my father hobby farmed pigs for a couple years and ran a vegetable garden. But we were not a farm by any stretch of the imagination. There were however many family dairy farms surrounding us. So naturally I was hooked with farming since I saw my first tractor. As time went on, I worked for a couple of these farms and that only fueled my love of agriculture. In 2019 I was able to move back home as my parents were ready to downsize and I was ready to try my hand at farming. Stacy and logan share the same love of farming as I do. Stacy growing up on her family's dairy farm and logans exposure of farming/tractors at a very young age. We all share this same passion to grow a quality/healthy product to share with our community. Join us on this journey and see where the farm life takes us.