We'll be eating meat at record amounts this year.
The USDA forecasts that the average person will eat 222 pounds of red meat and poultry in 2018 ... and U.S. production will pass 100 billion pounds for the first time.
That’s good news for cattle ranchers. The optimistic outlook is shared in Texas, says Bill Hyman of the Independent Cattlemen's Association.
Some think future competition will come from lab-engineered artificial meat -- but Hyman has no worries.
He points out that fake meat is still in the experimental stage – ansd that no one’s ever going to come up with the duplicate “of a good ribeye steak.”
Hyman tells Newsradio 740 KTRH that lab-produced meat doesn't make a dent in sales – and while plant-based protein is a competitor, it pretty much always has been anyway.
Texas ranchers account for 20 percent of all beef produced in America -- but their main market is right here at home.
Hyman says Texas eats more pounds of beef, per capita, than anywhere else in the country.