In today’s Beef Buzz, senior farm and ranch broadcaster Ron Hays speaks with Tom McDonald, Senior Vice President for Environmental Affairs and Sustainability for Five Rivers Cattle Feeding, LLC who has been named the new chairman of the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef.
Excited to Lead the Organization
McDonald said he is honored to step into the leadership role after being involved since the group’s beginning. “I’m excited to lead the organization,” McDonald said. “I’ve been involved with the U.S. Roundtable since its inception. This is the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef’s 11th year.”
He added that the group will continue focusing on solutions that work for cattle producers and the full beef supply chain. “We want to keep beef sustainability profitable, practical and continue to produce the safe, wholesome beef that our consumers are looking for.”
Bringing the Entire Beef Chain Together
McDonald said the organization was formed to unite every segment of the beef business so they could better understand each other’s challenges. “Ten or fifteen years ago, we were getting all of these demands thrown at us, and we didn’t talk the same language,” he said. “We didn’t understand each other’s pressures and opportunities.”
He noted the Roundtable includes members from producers, auction markets, feedyards, packers, processors, retailers, food service, academia, allied industry and non-government organizations.“Collaboration is where, number one, you get to know each other, and then you build trust,” McDonald said. “As you discuss and collaborate about the issues, you find out what the other side really needs.”
What Sustainability Means to Beef Producers
McDonald said sustainability often gets misunderstood, but for the beef business it comes down to balance and efficiency. “Sustainability is about the three-legged stool—environmentally sound, socially responsible and economically viable,” he said. “You have to have all three of those components before something is sustainable.”
He said in practical terms, that means taking care of people, caring for livestock, protecting resources and staying profitable.
McDonald said “We all want to do what’s right for our people, for the environment, for the livestock, and we want to do it in a way that’s profitable.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR above for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
