The Beef Checkoff sponsored this blog post. Visit http://factsaboutbeef.com to learn more. Dr. Kim Stackhouse-Lawson is the Director of Sustainability Research at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, a contractor to the Beef Checkoff, and is currently leading the Beef Checkoff sustainability effort, which marks the first and largest sustainability project that has ever been attempted in the beef community. She received her PhD in Animal Science from the University of California, Davis, and was a postdoctoral fellow with the Beef Cattle Institute at Kansas State University.
SB: What was the impetus for the Beef Checkoff’s sustainability project?
Farmers and ranchers recognized the need to benchmark the sustainability of beef production and better understand sustainability improvements from the past in order to produce more sustainable beef in the future. So in 2010, they chose to invest their own dollars, through the Beef Checkoff, in research to benchmark the environmental, economic and social sustainability of beef.
SB: Why is a sustainability project for the beef community needed? What are the benefits?
As a result of the life cycle assessment, which was the most comprehensive LCA ever conducted on a food system, we are better able to understand how management changes over time have affected the sustainability of beef production. With those benchmarks in mind, the beef community can utilize that knowledge to produce more sustainable beef in the future. The level of detail in the LCA allows farmers, ranchers, feedyard managers, processors, retailers and others along the beef supply chain to understand specific impacts of management decisions so they can focus time and energy on tangible changes that improve sustainability. Ultimately, the project allows beef to create a road map to more sustainable beef in the future and build consumer trust in beef. Raising responsible beef is as important to farmers and ranchers as it is to our beef consumers.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: National Cattlemen’s Beef Association