Enjoy Bacon Now
‘A world shortage of pork and bacon next year is now unavoidable,’ the British National Pig Association warned last week. European Union herds have been cut by an average 5.2 percent, according to the trade association.
Farmers globally have been thinning herds because of massive increases in the cost of pig feed, a result of the summer’s droughts. All protein prices will go up, but pork will be most expensive because pigs eat mainly corn and soybeans, two crops that were hard hit. (Beef cattle mostly eat grass, up until they’re fattened for market.) Higher costs to raise swine and fewer hogs on the market mean you can expect less bacon for your buck in 2013.
Bacon won’t actually be scarce in the United States, said Cindy Cunningham, assistant vice president, communications, for the American National Pork Board. The amount of pork available per person in America, today 46 pounds, is expected to drop to 44.6 pounds next year, according to Cunningham.