During the issues forum of the National Farm Broadcasters Washington Watch, Oklahoma Farm Report’s Maci Carter had the opportunity to visit with Mary-Thomas Hart, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Chief Counsel, about many things, including EPA’s intent to revise WOTUS which was featured in yesterday’s BeefBuzz. In today’s BeefBuzz, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays highlights her comments from that conversation concerning telling consumers the beef industry’s sustainability story.
According to Hart, the conversation would have been more difficult about ten years ago. “We hadn’t coalesced around how to talk about climate sustainability in the beef industry. It was a conversation we were, quite frankly, scared to have.”
Prior to starting those conversations, NCBA visited cattle producers in other countries that were already dealing with regulatory environmental mandates. They were surprised to learn that the United States’ beef supply chain is the global blueprint for producing beef in an efficient and sustainable way.
“According to the United Nations, the U.S. beef supply chain has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions per pound of beef of any beef-producing nation,” she said. “That’s not an accident. That is a product of the market telling our producers how they want their beef, producers answering those market demands, maximizing efficiency within the supply chain and our environmental sustainability, protecting those natural resources – our water, soil, and carbon resources and wildlife biodiversity.”
She described how an American consumer eating a hamburger can not only enjoy the burger, but also the industry and supply chain that they are supporting.
“I’m really excited about what we’ve done as an industry in the last sixty years, and the progress we’ve made,” she touted.
During the Biden administration, several climate-smart commodity programs were implemented to help cattle producers align with the climate sustainability discussion. “Those programs are being reconsidered by this administration,” Hart shared. “As they are being reconsidered, our primary goal is to make sure that programs grant research opportunities and pilot projects to the extent that those are available to cattle producers and that the USDA prioritizes retaining those and ensuring their continued availability.”
She cautioned that cattle producers do have a target on their backs in climate conversations despite their success thus far. “Any additional research or pilot projects that help cattle producers implement new, innovative practices or establish a market for some of those ecosystem services are really valuable, and are things that our producers are looking for.”
She established that whether it is done in a climate lens or a general improved efficiency lens, NCBA is going to be supportive of those programs. They work to highlight the benefits of those programs both in foreign and domestic markets.
“U.S. beef is in high demand around the world,” she said. “We want to make sure that not only the U.S consumer knows about the sustainability of our product, but that the global consumer understands the sustainability of our product. That comes with not only lobbying in D.C., but lobbying internationally, too.”
The team at NCBA frequently attends international climate discussions where they can highlight the positive story of U.S. beef production to be sure that the U.S. beef supply chain remains the example of sustainability for global beef production.
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 at the top of the story for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
