In one sense, there has always been a certain conflict between crops and livestock since they tend to benefit from each other when the one is not doing so well at least price-wise. When crop prices are low, at least temporarily, livestock producers gain profits through lower cost of production. When crop prices skyrocket, livestock producers tend to struggle until a passthrough occurs or some adjustments take place. In the past however, there were good reasons for the two major arms of U.S. Ag to talk about their symbiosis and protect each other's interests. That's when the vast majority of U.S. produced corn, for instance, was destined to be livestock feed. That dynamic is changing largely due to government policy changes.
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