Mark McCully has served the American Angus Association as Chief Executive Officer since 2019. He was a former vice president of production for Certified Angus Beef and previously led the beef improvement program and value-added feeder cattle marketing programs for cattlemen within a 22-state region for Southern States Cooperative. Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays caught up with McCully to discuss the disappointment some cattle industry members are feeling after the American Angus Association accepted grant money from the Bezos Earth Fund to research methane efficiency in cattle on grass as part of a multi-country research project.
According to McCully, the American Angus Association was invited to participate by research partners in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
“I know methane, as it relates to some of our producers, they quickly go to debates and discussions around climate change, and that isn’t what this research is about,” McCully said. “It is energy loss.”
The American Angus Association has partnered with Kansas State University in the past to research methane efficiency in cattle, making the project with Bezos Earth in line with the organization’s existing objectives.
“That research group worked together to design this project, and it was submitted to the Global Methane Hub, which is where a lot of this methane work gets funded, and of course, that is where some sensitivities show up,” McCully stated. “These are some groups that have a different view of the world than cattle producers have as it relates to methane, but they all have incentives to reduce methane, as do cattle producers. Even though we maybe don’t think about it that way, it is, again, energy loss and efficiency.”
He explained that Bezos Earth Fund, a Global Methane Hub funding partner, looked at the research and agreed to fund it. Recognizing the possible sensitivities from some members, the funding proposal was brought before the American Angus Association Board of Directors, which weighed the possible fallout from membership, the safety of data from collecting 4,600 methane measurements on anonymous genotypes that were submitted into the Hub for other researchers to use.
“They were very confident in the protection of the data and the ability to maintain our objectives, and that is to find cattle that are more efficient,” McCully shared. “We all know that research funding is really hard to come by, and the decision was made to move forward with that funding, and we’re excited about what we could learn.”
The research project will take about five years to complete, and while the money passes through the Angus Foundation, a large portion of it is distributed to other research partners to fund the project.
McCully explained that the methane conversation is global, and research is being done to measure methane in beef cattle genetics around the world. “It has been one of those topics that has struck a nerve with some,” he admitted. “Maybe they didn’t understand what our intent was here, but the intent was to help our producers. The board members making these decisions are producers. Unfortunately, with a narrative that can catch fire on social media, that happened, and we feel terrible about that. We are working hard to show folks exactly what the research is and what it is not.”
Although the social media narrative has been extremely negative, the American Angus Association has been applauded for participating in the research on other avenues. McCully said, “I think folks are excited that we’re able to fund some of this research and be prepared for what tools our producers might need four or five years down the road, so we don’t get behind. The Angus breed has always been led by producers with an eye for the future, respectful of our traditions and heritage, and making sure that we are prepared to continue down the road.
“This was not a major initiative. This is one of many research projects that AGI has: we are doing things with bovine congestive heart failure; we have some microbiome work… that’s the thing with research. This stuff takes time and so you start these projects to make sure that four, six, ten years down the road, you are in a good spot.”
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