Beef is expensive. Really expensive. Since 2020, steak prices have increased at least 41 percent and ground beef at least 48 percent, according to statistics from the Federal Reserve. In a recent, well-reported piece for Barron’s, Jack Hough elucidates the reasons why. First is supply. The US cattle herd is at a 75-year low, numbering 86.2 million head as of January, compared to around 130 million in the 1970s. One might assume that the price increase is a function of increased demand — the nation has almost doubled in population since the ’70s — but that variable is tempered by decreased per capita consumption. The average American ate 94 pounds of beef in 1976; that dropped to 55 pounds in 2023. 

The shrinking of the herd has almost been commensurate with the decline in consumption. But costs are up, particularly for feed. 

Cattle need grass. Grass needs water. Since 2020, Texas, …