This is so fascinating!! I love that you covered so many aspects between beef and dairy, from cultural and technological differences, political aims, and diversification strategies
Thanks, Ariel! I think sometimes we overlook the cultural differences between different types of producers and act like they're some sort of monolith instead of recognizing the divergence of business structures, priorities, and even management styles. Budgets and forecasts can tell us a lot! But I think sometimes a little anthropology could go a long way.
Very strong framing. The piece shows how technological control upstream can have consequences that look downstream like pricing conflict, lobbying conflict, and category confusion. A breeding tool did not just improve dairy economics; it altered the competitive geometry of the broader cattle industry. That is a much bigger story than “dairies found a better use for bull calves.”
This is so fascinating!! I love that you covered so many aspects between beef and dairy, from cultural and technological differences, political aims, and diversification strategies
Thanks, Ariel! I think sometimes we overlook the cultural differences between different types of producers and act like they're some sort of monolith instead of recognizing the divergence of business structures, priorities, and even management styles. Budgets and forecasts can tell us a lot! But I think sometimes a little anthropology could go a long way.
Very strong framing. The piece shows how technological control upstream can have consequences that look downstream like pricing conflict, lobbying conflict, and category confusion. A breeding tool did not just improve dairy economics; it altered the competitive geometry of the broader cattle industry. That is a much bigger story than “dairies found a better use for bull calves.”
Thank you! This is a beautiful summary and one I wish I had said explicitly in my piece.