I’m freshly back from a terrific trip to Charleston, S.C., for the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef annual meeting. Trust In Beef ™ counts USRSB as one of our founding members, and over the course of three fabulous days, we had the chance to participate alongside our partners and larger community in the proactive evolution of an industry.

“Proactive evolution” might sound like an exaggeration, but I can assure you it isn’t. What’s happening in the beef cattle space right now is, to me, the hands-down most exciting space in sustainable agriculture. Here are my top three takeaways from the USRSB meeting that underscore why I feel that way:

1) Momentum for focused improvements is gathering: A decade in the making, the U.S. Roundtable membership approved industrywide goals last week. The headline – a U.S. beef supply chain that is climate neutral by 2040 – builds on the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association announcement last year of climate neutrality for U.S. cattle production in the same timeframe. With so much focus on the climate impacts of beef and other red meat worldwide, we have seen the U.S. beef industry stake a claim to better climate profiles based on the efficiency gains in the past 50 years. The new USRSB goals mark an important turning point for the whole value chain by illustrating how more can and will be done. 

2) Traceability is gaining new tools and benefits: The pathway to a national beef cattle identification system has been fraught with challenges and producer concerns. With value chain-wide goals in place, and a wealth of new technology on the horizon, though, we are starting to see where producers could benefit from voluntary traceability efforts. Where Food Comes From shared more about how their company’s groundbreaking work allows producers to access market-based premium programs. And TIB partner Merck Animal Health shared how its livestock intelligence business supports veterinarians and producers in providing the best possible care for their cattle with early disease detection and individualized treatment.

3) Consumers care: Meat industry marketing powerhouse Midan shared more about what they’ve learned from consumers through their research. Bottom line – how cattle are cared for, how they are raised, and beef’s overall environmental impact are all on the minds of consumers, especially younger generations, as well as the stakeholder community. Beef’s right to have its share of plate space will require continued progress.

As I said, it’s an exciting time to be working on beef sustainability! What are you seeing in your work, and what gaps do you see needing addressed to fulfill the promise of the USRSB’s ambitious new goals?

I’d love to connect at acole@farmjournal.com.

Yours in regenerative ag,
Amy Skoczlas Cole
Executive Vice President, Trust In Food™