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Understanding how predator reintroduction indirectly affects prey physiology remains poorly understood. We examined hair cortisol concentrations in 79 beef cattle from nine herds across California's Sierra Nevada, comparing herds exposed to the Lassen Wolf Pack with unexposed herds. We collected hair samples before and after summer grazing (n = 158 samples) and used Bayesian multilevel regression to test for effects of wolf presence. Wolf‐exposed herds showed a 58% reduction in temperature sensitivity compared to unexposed herds (where cortisol decreased 13.5% per 1°C), suggesting altered seasonal cortisol regulation. These preliminary results point toward a potential physiological mechanism by which predator reintroduction may indirectly affect prey, with implications for understanding how recovering carnivores could influence prey physiology, animal welfare, and productivity. Predators exert indirect effects on prey populations beyond direct predation, but how predator reintroduction restructures prey physiology remains poorly understood. Using hair cortisol analysis in cattle exposed versus unexposed to wolves, we found that wolf presence disrupted normal seasonal cortisol regulation patterns. These results reveal an important physiological mechanism by which predators can restructure prey ecological responses to environmental cues, with implications for understanding predator reintroduction dynamics.

Concentration in animal-based protein industries in the United States continues to garner the interest of policymakers, researchers, and consumers alike. We assess the impacts of industry concentration on animal productivity and downstream prices in the US broiler chicken industry between 1991 and 2019. We compile a dataset that matches annual, plant-level information on ownership and sales for all poultry processing facilities in the United States with market-level wholesale composite prices and bird yields. Consolidation over the last three decades has greatly contributed to industry concentration, leading to higher wholesale composite broiler prices (16.3%) and gains in animal productivity (2.4%).

The U.S. meat processing sector has been subject to amplified scrutiny after workers exhibited disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 infections and deaths. In response, Tyson Foods—one of the largest meat packers in the country—mandated that its employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 1, 2021. In this paper, we investigate the impact that the Tyson vaccine mandate had on vaccine uptake, infection rates, and deaths in counties where Tyson processing facilities are located. We find that the mandate resulted in approximately 35,000 additional vaccinations. The resultant vaccine uptake avoided 98 COVID-19 infections per day and nearly 75 COVID-19-related deaths; the associated public health savings total $45.4 million. Employee health-related interventions at the corporate level can leverage industry ownership concentration and the centrality of packing operations in host communities to improve health outcomes and disease resiliency well beyond the packing operations.

Gray wolves have successfully recolonized much of their historical range on multiple continents, now occupying landscapes substantially altered during their absence. Wolf ecological function in human-modified landscapes remains poorly understood, fueling conflict concerns among rural stakeholders and conservation advocates over predation on economically valuable livestock and wildlife. Dietary studies can facilitate prediction of ecological impacts and help avoid outcomes that undermine human-wolf coexistence and conservation objectives. This study addresses a critical gap in dietary research of a recolonizing population of wolves in California, USA, representing the first investigation employing genetic identification of species and individuals combined with DNA metabarcoding for diet determination in scat samples. Our findings indicate that cattle dominated wolf diet, occurring in 72% of samples during the study period, compared to mule deer, which occurred in 45% of samples and small mammals that appeared in 51% of samples. Dietary biomass estimates corroborated cattle as the principal dietary component accounting for an average of 55%, while mule deer and small mammals each contributed considerably smaller proportions, 12% and 15%, respectively. These results revealed that wolves in California’s human-modified landscape primarily satisfy their caloric requirements through livestock consumption, underscoring the considerable challenges posed by coexistence of wolves and humans within the state.

Rangelands support nearly one-third of Earth's population and provide a multitude of ecosystem services. Land managers and society face increasing pressures to sustainably intensify rangeland food systems; therefore, the time is ripe for thoughtful approaches to simultaneously produce more food, provide economic opportunities for livestock-dependent communities, and enhance environmental benefits from rangeland ecosystems. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) programs have been put forth as potential mechanisms to maintain the quality and quantity of ecosystem services while enhancing economic viability of livestock operations. Free markets have long been proposed as solutions for mitigating trade-offs from ecosystem services that are not co-produced with livestock production; such markets have failed to emerge at the scale required to address global threats to sustainability. We highlight fundamental obstacles on demand and supply sides that challenge the concept of a market as a panacea; we do so through an interdisciplinary lens of fundamental economic underpinnings overlaid with a social survey of cattle producers' perspectives. Relevant to the demand side, we discuss the most significant impediments to development and function of non-bundled ecosystem service markets; on the supply side, we provide unique perspectives, using novel interview data from California rangeland cattle producers. Producer interviews highlighted substantial financial challenges threatening the economic sustainability of their operations. Among interviewed producers, 85% identified government regulations as the central threat to their livelihoods. Producers identified opportunities for enhancing enterprise sustainability via improved value and marketing of livestock goods co-produced with ecosystem services, participation in conservation easements, and improved connections with society. Only 11% of producers identified PES programs as future opportunities. When asked about willingness to participate in PES markets, 13% of interviewees indicated they would not, 45% were neutral, and 42% indicated they would consider participating. Interviewees stated trust in the market broker is key and they would be less willing to participate if there was government involvement. Ecosystem service markets—whether voluntary or non-voluntary—are likely not sustainable solutions to the complex social-economic-ecological dilemma ranchers and society face. Sustainability on working rangelands will require partnerships to co-develop strategies to build more equitable food systems and sustain these ecosystems.

This paper investigates spatial, quality, and temporal factors impacting prices of calves and yearlings in the western United States using satellite video auction data and a hedonic regression framework. Prices received by western ranchers are discounted by approximately the costs of shipping cattle to the Midwest for processing. Other key results include identifying the presence of temporal price premiums for seller-offered forward contracts, providing new estimates of the marginal value associated with key quality attributes and management practices and finding support for the price benefits of third-party quality certification. We also link variability in estimated valuations for value-added attributes to the stage of the cattle cycle.

We examine the shopping behavior of Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program participants located in food deserts in the Greater Los Angeles area relative to peers in GLA located outside of food-desert boundaries. Results indicate that food-desert participants traveled slightly farther to shop than comparison participants. However, food-desert and non-food-desert participants were equally likely to visit multiple vendors and to visit a supermarket vendor. Food-desert participants did not pay more for program foods relative to comparison participants. On balance, the results indicate that WIC shopping behavior is very similar among food-desert and comparison participants.

Predation threatens the economic viability of sheep operations in the United States. Many producers recognize the need to complement lethal control methods with nonlethal strategies such as the use of livestock guardian dogs (LGDs), but little information exists on benefits and costs. We report on a comprehensive benefit–cost analysis of the decision to incorporate LGDs onto a sheep operation in Mendocino County, California, USA, based on data collected during 2013–2017, where livestock predation by coyotes (Canis latrans) has been a persistent problem. We estimated that for a representative sheep operation with a breeding flock of 500 adult females (ewes), the use of 5 LGDs reduced lambs and ewes lost to coyote predation by 43% and 25%, respectively, for a total savings of US$16,200 over 7 years. However, we found that costs, which included acquisition and maintenance expenses, exceed benefits of this investment over the 7-year useful life of LGDs by US$13,413. Our results inform the adoption of LGDs, demonstrating that LGDs are only cost-effective for certain types of operations, namely those where LGDs are able to achieve high rates of predator protection efficacy.

The Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Program has changed its food benefit issuance method from paper vouchers to electronic benefit transfer (EBT). WIC participation among the eligible population base has been declining since 2010, and EBT has been viewed as a way to arrest the decline. We utilize county-level WIC data from Oklahoma to analyze the impact of EBT on participation and food cost. We find no significant effect on program participation due to the EBT transition, but EBT reduced average participant food costs about $8.18/month, the equivalent of $56 million annually if similar savings apply nationally.

Significant plant- and industry-wide disruptions have occurred in the U.S. meatpacking industry during the past several years. The result has been a reinvigorated interest in the possibility that industry concentration has facilitated anticompetitive behavior and a torrent of public policy proposals to improve resiliency. In this paper, we provide a contemporary synopsis of meat processing concentration statistics with the use of annual plant-level food safety and inspection service (FSIS) data that cover all federally inspected livestock processing facilities in the U.S. for the past 30 years. Beyond considering traditional concentration measures (e.g., CR4 and HHI), we exploit the plant-level nature of the data and consider trends in processing facility consolidation, ownership changes, and how regional procurement markets have changed over time.