In today’s Beef Buzz, senior farm and ranch broadcaster Ron Hays speaks with Kansas State University livestock economist Dr. Glynn Tonsor, who discusses the Meat Demand Monitor and what the project is revealing about consumer attitudes toward beef and other meat proteins.
Meat Demand Monitor Tracks Consumer Behavior
The Meat Demand Monitor has been tracking U.S. meat consumers since February 2020, giving researchers a growing look at what consumers buy, why they buy it and what influences their decisions. “So since February 2020, we do a nationally representative survey of U.S. residents,” Tonsor said. “So we’re trying to track what people buy, why they buy it, why they don’t buy it when it comes to beef, pork, chicken, so forth here domestically.”
Tonsor said the goal is to provide an unbiased source of information about the U.S. meat consumer. “My vision or my desire was for it to be based at K-State as a land-grant,” Tonsor said. “You know, unbiased third party repository for all this.”
Tonsor said the information collected through the Meat Demand Monitor is freely available to the public through the K-State AgManager website. “Everything from the MDM is fully and freely available on our AgManager.info website,” he said. “And when I mean everything, I mean the original survey data, the survey instruments we use, and probably more importantly, the resulting summaries and so forth is all there.”
U.S. Meat Consumers Are Diverse
Tonsor said the Meat Demand Monitor was created in part because researchers wanted to better understand the differences among American meat consumers. “We knew more about the U.S. meat consumer, but we still are kind of geeks that wanted to know more,” Tonsor said.
He explained that previous data provided a broad look at overall meat consumption but did not always explain the reasons behind consumer choices. “We knew more on retail, so think grocery store for at-home consumption, than we did away from home, and most of what we knew was pretty aggregated,” Tonsor said.
That data also did not always capture differences between individual beef products or consumer groups. “A lot less about why, and a lot less difference about ground versus steak, and how is that different for a Hispanic household versus non, and all those kind of realities that are there?” Tonsor said.
He said the diversity of the American consumer means there is no single type of meat buyer. “There are some households that never eat beef steak and eat more ground beef than you can ever imagine,” Tonsor said. “There’s some that never eat a pork chop. They eat a ton of bacon and so forth.”
Taste and Freshness Remain Key Drivers
After more than six years of tracking consumer attitudes, Tonsor said two major trends stand out. “The first and most important trend I would say is fewer people are self-declaring as a vegan vegetarian,” Tonsor said.
He said that creates a more favorable environment for the meat industry because more consumers are choosing meat products. “The average American is going to consume maybe 30 pounds more meat — that’s combination of beef, pork, and poultry products — this year than 15 years ago,” Tonsor said. “So we are very much in the middle of a pro-meat environment.”
Tonsor said another major finding involves what consumers prioritize when choosing protein. “The second part would be the role of taste and freshness has regularly led the purchase decision when it comes to protein,” he said.
Meanwhile, Tonsor said other factors have become less influential in the purchase decision. “The role of environmental impact, origin traceability, and animal welfare has actually declined during this period,” Tonsor said. “Now I’m always a little careful how I say that. Notice I said it declined. It’s not gone, but taste and freshness are more paramount.”
Strong Beef Demand Tied to Eating Experience
Tonsor said the findings are particularly important for the beef industry because consumers continue to have a strong perception of beef as a high-quality eating experience. “Specific to beef, I think it’s definitely served them well,” Tonsor said. “The perception of a high-quality eating experience has served beef well.”
He said beef demand remains historically strong, and consumer preference for taste is an important part of that story. “Beef continues to be in the middle of a very historic, strong beef demand run, and I think it hinges back to taste leading the decision,” Tonsor said.
For cattle producers, Tonsor said the Meat Demand Monitor helps demonstrate how consumer preferences ultimately translate into economic value throughout the beef industry. “If taste is leading decision and there’s a favorable view on your product, you’re getting economically rewarded for it,” Tonsor said.
More information from the Meat Demand Monitor is available at AgManager.info.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR above for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
