At the 2024 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show (CattleCon) held in Orlando, Florida, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, had the chance to talk with NCBA Senior Director of Sustainability Samantha Werth.
Looking at NCBA’s sustainability goals launched in November of 2021, Werth said there has been a continued focus on defining what sustainability means for U.S. beef.
“For us, that comes down to the animals, the people, and the planet,” Werth said. “We are really focused on what we can do as a cattle ranching and producing community to advance sustainability initiatives, continuously improve as we have for decades, and be able to leverage that work we are doing to share across the broader industry.”
In the sustainability conversation, Werth said everything stems back to the financial perspective. Because of this, Werth said NCBA works to help add value for producers when it comes to implementing new practices that would increase sustainability.
“There are a lot of things we can do and are doing in terms of how we manage our animals already,” Werth said.
Regarding the goal set to be carbon-neutral by 2040, Werth said things are on track.
“Things we have been doing here at NCBA and with our partners like the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef is working to amplify the need to have grazing management plans for ranchers thinking through what are those elements we can do through grazing management to optimize how we are producing our animals, optimize our resources and use that to help leverage that conversion of improving efficiency as in reducing our impacts leading to climate neutrality,” Werth said.
To ensure that climate neutrality can be achieved by 2040, Werth said the biggest factor is raising awareness. Werth said there are ways that producers can be compensated and increase profitability by partaking in sustainable practices.
Our coverage from the 2024 Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show in Orlando is being powered by Farm Data Services of Stillwater.
