What's going on?

US meat producer Tyson Foods reported some pretty dire quarterly results on Monday.

What does this mean?

Tyson�s business was bringing home the bacon this time last year, thanks in large part to extra-juicy meat prices � but last quarter offered slim pickings in comparison. And that stands to reason: sirloin’s a luxury in this economy, after all, so cash-strapped Americans either traded down from premium cuts of meat to cheaper options or held off on buying meat altogether. To make matters worse, beef � by far Tyson�s biggest segment � saw prices drop an average of 8.5%, while the spiking price of animal feed ate into takings even further. The fallout: Tyson�s overall profit fell a tear-inducing 70%, and investors suddenly lost their appetite and knocked shares by 5%. Not quite a rib-tickling time for the firm…

Why should I care?

The bigger picture: Salad days.
It’s not unusual for folk to get less carnivorous when economies stall, but this time beef demand�s being hit particularly hard in even the most meat-loving nations � like Brazil, where the latest data showed consumption on track for a record low last year. That trend�s bad news for beef producers like Tyson and JBS, especially when they’re contending with herd-shrinking droughts and mounting pressure from green-minded investors � but it is good news for the planet. After all, livestock�s the main culprit when it comes to agricultural greenhouse gasses, and some measures show that farming singlehandedly emits more greenhouse gasses than the entire transport industry.

Zooming out: Having a cow.
Meat producers may have run into a bit of a rut lately, but the cruelty-free counterparts that were supposed to upend the whole industry have been faring even worse: high prices and wary consumers have given Beyond Meat and its ilk a string of disappointing results. In fact, Tyson’s stock has outperformed Beyond Meat�s by over 30% in the past year, even after its own meager update.