Palisades Gold Radio · Saturday, August 1, 2026
Joel Salatin argues that converting soybean farms to cattle operations could dramatically increase farmer profitability, citing a potential profit of $1,000 per acre for beef cattle compared to a $100 per acre loss for soybeans. He notes that the capital cost for conversion is comparable to the annual costs of growing soybeans. Salatin suggests that older farmers, often less inclined towards innovation, may be hesitant to make this transition, leading to a missed market opportunity.
“And with beef cattle, they would profit $1,000 an acre.”
“So that's a pretty big swing. And, uh, and that that is the way to greatly increase, you know, the productive capacity per acre.”
“And it pays for the infrastructure. So interestingly, interestingly, that $300,000 transition cost is almost identical to the cost of of growing that thousand acres of soybeans.”