Expansion in the country’s beef cattle herd is bringing cheaper meat prices to the grocery store just in time for the summer grilling season.
Lower prices for feed, falling land prices and increased consumer demand for meat over the past three years spurred the nation’s beef producers to raise more cattle. But Iowa State University economist Lee Schulz says even so, prices dropped a bit quicker than expected.
"What many of us thought would be a much longer, prolonged process to get to this new price level, really occurred in the last three months of 2015," Schulz says.
Now ground beef is about 30 cents a pound cheaper than it was a year ago.