Sustainability Support for the Cattle Industry
While U.S. farmers and ranchers have worked to revitalize the quality of beef and the efficiency of its production over the past 30 years, consumers are often the target of unflattering messages from a litany of activist groups. That fact first appeared as a quality concern in the 2011 National Beef Quality Audit’s (NBQA) top five as: “How and where cattle are raised.”
Today’s consumers are regularly encouraged by one group or another to eat less meat to help mitigate climate change, which is an attempt to seek a simple solution to a complex issue, one that overlooks the unique role cattle and other ruminants play in diverse ecosystems. One particularly sensationalist report recently caught our eye: A study by Nature Food claims “substituting just half a portion of beef with a handful of nuts, vegetables, fruits and seafood could buy you 48 extra minutes of healthy life and reduce your carbon footprint for that meal by 33%.”
While the initial reaction might be to ignore such reports, cattle producers must recognize that coupled with threats from animal welfare activists and vigorous marketing campaigns from alternative protein hucksters, a disruption to the future of cattle ranching seems plausible. Indeed, one anonymous government official was quoted in the 2016 NBQA as saying, “Perception is reality and drives more regulation than science.”
Today’s ranchers and cattle feeders, then, face the task of continuing to produce more with less — more of the highest quality beef in a sustainable manner.
A new initiative
Drovers and Farm Journal recognize that changing consumer demands create new and sometimes difficult challenges for beef producers. In an effort to help empower you with these challenges, we have launched Trust In Beef™, a new initiative aligned with Farm Journal’s Trust in Food. As part of this program, we’ll provide consumers with real-life proof points of the continuously improving environmental performance of U.S. beef.
Similarly, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has launched an initiative to respond to consumer demands for more transparency around animal welfare, traceability and sustainability with the release of U.S. cattle industry sustainability goals in August. Marty Smith, 2021 NCBA past president, a rancher and attorney from Wacahoota, Fla., says the goals focus on four critical areas:
• Demonstrate climate neutrality of U.S. cattle production by 2040.
• Create and enhance more opportunities that result in a quantifiable increase in producer profitability and economic sustainability by 2025.
• Enhance trust in cattle producers as responsible stewards of their animals and resources by expanding educational opportunities in animal care and handling programs to further improve animal well-being.
• Continuously improve our industry’s workforce safety and well-being.
“Cattlemen and women have demonstrated their commitment to sustainability for generations,” Smith says. “Producers deserve recognition for their use of cutting-edge practices and technologies that minimize environmental impact. By setting goals, we’re publicly committing to continuous improvement and setting targets to measure those efforts.”
Separately, Drovers’ Trust In Beef™ initiative is committed to assist beef producers on their sustainability journey.
“Our vision is that we amplify and extend the great work of many stakeholders at work on this topic already,” says Amy Skoczlas Cole, executive vice president of Farm Journal’s Trust In Food™. “But we also expect to drive cohesion — simplifying the process for cattle producers to meet the challenges of a changing world. That’s why we’re tapping into the full force of Drovers, a trusted voice since 1873.”
Common ground
Earlier this year we surveyed more than 900 cattle producers from 43 states to better understand their perspectives, beliefs and actions regarding sustainability. Seventy-nine percent of respondents said U.S. beef producers “should change their production management strategies to meet consumer demand.”
Yet, a majority of respondents, 56%, said the average American beef ranching operation is “somewhat but not entirely environmentally sound,” while 40% of respondents said ranches are “very environmentally sound.”
The biggest takeaway from our survey was that today’s producers know the industry is changing but many are unsure of what they can and should do and what impact they can have.
“That’s a gap that we at Farm Journal and Trust In Food™ can help to fill,” says Skoczlas Cole. “We can start the process, but we won’t be in this alone. We expect to find common ground and collaboration opportunities with many.”
This first-of-its-kind initiative seeks to unite every link in the beef value chain to do two things:
Empower cow/calf and backgrounding operations to start (or accelerate) their sustainability journey by providing them with (and linking them to) the resources, education and motivation they need to thrive in an evolving market and world.
Connect beef consumers to beef’s sustainability story, enabling marketers and communicators to better engage about the realities of cow/calf and stocker production as it relates to sustainability
Drovers and Farm Journal are committed to helping beef producers navigate this transitional period of rapid change in ways that keep operations viable for generations to come — economically, environmentally and socially.
Learn more about Trust In Beef here.