**More and more people are choosing to eat less and less meat due to concerns over the environment, personal health and animal welfare.

However, according to agweb.com, overall meat consumption continues to INCREASE on a global scale, buoyed by rising affluence in developing economies like China and Brazil.

While per capita consumption in the U.S., the world’s biggest beef consumer, is growing, countries like France, Germany, Spain and Sweden are cutting back on meat.

**For the world’s largest ag-commodity traders, the longest-ever U.S. government shutdown triggered a flashback.

According to agweb.com, without crucial government crop reports, giants like Archer-Daniels-Midland, Bunge, Cargill, and Louis Dreyfus, used their broad resources to navigate markets, giving them an edge similar to the days when information didn’t travel as fast.

Ag markets were kept mostly in the dark while the USDA was not issuing reports that set the tone for trading in livestock and crops.

 

**With Chinese officials here to discuss trade, the National Pork Producers Council urged both countries to resolve their trade differences and asked China to make a minimum $3.5 billion purchase of U.S. pork over five years.

China is the largest consumer of pork in the world, making it a top market for U.S. pork exports.

Pork is said to represent about 15% of the Consumer Price Index in China and could single-handedly make a huge dent in the U.S.-China trade imbalance.

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