Steak costs more these days. Drought may keep prices high for years.
The brown hills of Northern California are peppered with cattle. They spend their days slowly meandering under the sun, munching drought-withered grass. Cattle are California’s fourth-biggest agricultural commodity, valued at $2.74 billion in 2020, according to the state’s agricultural department. But increasingly dry conditions are making the land less and less suitable for feeding and watering them. In March 2021, every pond on Scott Stone’s ranch was dry for the first time in the 46 years his family has owned it.