Yet another reason to eat locally produced, grass-fed meat

An article in Wednesday’s New York Times food section laments the jump in U.S. beef prices (just as grilling season begins) and warns consumers that beef marbled with fat—the soft texture that consumers have come to expect—will be in short supply this summer.

Why the rise in prices? Once again, the blame rests with high gas prices and increasing demand for biofuels. Livestock and ethanol are competing for corn, leading to higher prices and compelling beef producers to slaughter their animals earlier in the year. The result is less marbling (the fat in grain-fed beef that accumulates over time) and a leaner supply of choice cuts.

Many restaurateurs, according to the Times, will have to raise the price of their steaks, some by as much as $2, and are hoping that this won’t scare customers away. While the rise in beef prices probably won't mean a switch to "meatless" power lunches in Washington, New York, and L.A. (though this isn't a bad idea!), it might encourage restaurant owners to look in their own backyards, so to speak, for locally raised cows (as well as pigs and chickens).

Small-and medium-sized farms—as opposed to the huge feedlots and factory farms that cram animals together in often unsanitary conditions—tend to feed their animals very little (if any) corn and soybeans. Instead, they raise cattle outdoors on pasture—their natural diet—resulting in beef that has texture (not the gummy, melt-in-your-mouth flavor of conventional meat), complexity, and a truer taste that can convert even the most diehard lover of grain-fed meat.

Pasture-raised animal products are also high in Omega-3 fatty acids—the good fats that help protect the body against cancer and heart disease—making grass-fed steaks very different from the “heart attacks on a plate” served by most restaurants. (Grain-fed meat is very high in cholesterol and the bad fats, Omega 6’s.) Moreover, buying meat from local producers will mean that less energy—and money—is spent in transporting and storing it.