A Call for Transparency

Farm Journal logo

It’s music to a cowboy’s ears when a meat company CEO says, “Meat demand is growing rapidly around the world. We want the world to keep eating what it loves.” 

Those are the words of Uma Valeti, co-founder and CEO of Memphis Meats, a San Leandro, Calif.-based startup developing technology to grow meat from self-reproducing animal cells. That’s right, lab meat—the futuristic product that combines all of your calf-pulling, hay baling, fence-fixing labor into a stainless-steel cultivator dish. 

After touting the robust demand for meat, Valeti says, “However, the way conventional meat is produced today creates challenges for the environment, animal welfare and human health.”

 

You can disagree with Valeti if you wish, but don’t dare dismiss his efforts to bring “real meat—without the animal—to the table.” Memphis Meats says it plans to have products in grocery stores by 2021, and the business has attracted some high-profile investors, such as Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, English entrepreneur Richard Branson and Cargill. Yes, that Cargill.

Cargill and Tyson (which owns a 5% stake in Beyond Meat, a plant-based meat alternative) recognize that technology makes it possible for consumers to have more protein choices. “For people who want a product from an animal welfare perspective, we want (Memphis Meats) to be there for them,” Sonya Roberts, president of Cargill Proteins, told The Wall Street Journal.

With this issue, Drovers marks the 25th anniversary of the release of the 1991 National Beef Quality Audit, the Beef Checkoff-funded report widely credited with launching a revolution that pulled beef back on the rails and stopped the erosion in beef demand. Quality, however, remains an elusive and changing target. 

Noted in the articles in this issue, America’s beef producers changed production and management systems over the past quarter-century that greatly reduced carcass non-conformities, increased quality grades and improved consumer satisfaction. 

Today’s consumers, however, demand more.

Multiple surveys of consumers underscore their increasing desire to know more about their food—where it comes from, how it was raised and the care given to the animals. Both the 2011 and the 2016 NBQAs list “how and where cattle were raised” in the top five challenges for the beef industry.

With access to information literally at their fingertips, consumer desires to know more about their food will only increase. And we can be sure that startups growing meat in a laboratory or grinding beans and nuts into a patty will continue to claim superiority in environmental and animal welfare over traditional livestock production.

Beef’s quality bar has been raised. Consumers are demanding to know—from every operation—what animals are fed, how they are treated and their impact on the environment. Are you ready to add transparency to your operation?  


Read other stories from the Beef's Quality Revolution series: 

 

 

Latest News

Biden Administration Restores Wildlife Protections
Biden Administration Restores Wildlife Protections

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to reinstate rules protecting endangered plants and animals, action that would reverse changes made during the Trump Administration that weakened the Endangered Species Act.

Across Breed EPD Adjustment Factors
Across Breed EPD Adjustment Factors

EPDs from multiple breeds can be compared by adding/subtracting the appropriate adjustment factors to the EPDs resulting from the most recent genetic evaluations for each of 18 breeds.

APHIS Now Thinks Wild Birds Are to Blame for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza's Arrival on Four U.S. Dairies
APHIS Now Thinks Wild Birds Are to Blame for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza's Arrival on Four U.S. Dairies

The livestock industry continues to grapple with the first confirmed cases of HPAI in cattle, while federal and state agencies continue to assure consumers there's no concern about the safety of the U.S. milk supply.

Skills Survey Reveals U.S. Agriculture & Food Industry Workforce Needs and Gaps
Skills Survey Reveals U.S. Agriculture & Food Industry Workforce Needs and Gaps

U.S. employers report challenges in finding suitable job candidates with work-ready skills to fill open roles in ag. The AgCareers.com U.S. Skills Survey offers insights, data and trends to address skill development.

USDA Authorizes CRP Graze and Hay Donations to Wildfire Victims
USDA Authorizes CRP Graze and Hay Donations to Wildfire Victims

Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) participants can donate emergency grazing authority to ranchers in Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas impacted by recent wildfires.

New Guide Helps Producers Maximize Values of Cull Cows
New Guide Helps Producers Maximize Values of Cull Cows

A new resource developed by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and CattleFax helps cattle producers maximize profitability from their culling decisions.