The new playbook: Protein Trade 2.0
Prime Future 260: the newsletter for innovators in livestock, meat, and dairy
“Study grain long enough, and the world shrinks.”
Dan Morgan penned those words in “Merchants of Grain” back in 1979, but they don’t just apply to grain; they fit like a glove for meat, poultry, and dairy, too.
Since 2025 has been such a snoozingly-boring year for global trade (lolz), I’ve been reading "The New Merchants of Grain," written in 2019, to consider all the changes among the major trading companies over the last half century.
It’s led me to dig more into how global trade actually works, which tells us a lot about just how Tom-Thumb-tiny the world might be in the future.
While Americans celebrate Independence Day weekend, let’s talk about how, even though a tiny island across the sea may not regulate the price of tea1 anymore, global commerce is more interconnected than ever before.