Beef and Dairy Prices Still on the Rise

Sorry to put a damper on grilling season, but beef seems to be getting more expensive.

Beef, milk and egg prices are rising and not likely to stop any time soon thanks in large part to a drought. Even Chipotle had to increase the price of its steak to due to the drought. The price of ground beef has increased by 76 percent over the last five years according to Bloomberg.

To make matters even worse, the cattle population in the United States has been slowly declining. There are 87.7 million cows in the U.S. now, but this is not too far off from an all-time low in the cattle population, when in 1951 the U.S. had only 82.1 million cattle.

Two major contributing factors to this deficit are the increased price of cattle feed and drought. So it is unsurprising to learn that the price of a gallon of milk has increased by 1.3 percent. According to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, milk prices are determined by the prices of other dairy products, the costs for farmers and consumers and supply and demand. Now it makes sense that almond milk sales have skyrocketed.

Watch the video above to learn more about the rising cost of beef and dairy.