Beef & Climate Change
Cows have (unfairly!) got a bad rap with environmentalists.
Reports and news articles point accusingly at livestock as major contributors to climate change. And consumers pose questions like: is grass fed beef better for the environment?
With the way livestock are currently managed in most of North America – they are contributors to climate change.
- Cows regularly belch potent methane gas into the atmosphere
- Rainforests are destroyed to make way for grain crops grown to feed them
So diligent eco-conscious consumers are urged to reduce or eliminate beef and dairy consumption.
Regenerative Farming
Do you still want to eat beef? Well, one way you can make sure you're eating eco friendly beef is to purchase beef raised through regenerative farming techniques.
“Regenerative” is not a term you’ll ever see on a label anytime soon – it is far too broad for that. However, if you want to shop for regeneratively raised beef you can look for these regenerative based grazing terms on the packaging/label:
- Pasture-raised
- Pastured
- Grass fedÂ
- Free-range
Ways To Raise Eco Friendly Beef
Sequestering carbon and returning nutrients to the soil are key components of regenerative farming, and help improve, rather than destroy or replete, the resources it uses. Here are some more specific details:
1. Carbon Sequestering
When a plant is chomped on by a hungry animal, it ramps up photosynthesis so it can grow back the bits it lost. That means more carbon in the soil, and less in the atmosphere. In fact, a comprehensive 2013 report by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization found that carbon sequestration from pastured livestock could offset agricultural emissions by 1.5 gigatons per year. That is a LOT of tons. It is even possible that this carbon-sequestering could totally offset the unsavoury methane emissions!
2. Nutrients
A grazing cow is also a mobile, pooping cow. That poop puts valuable nutrients right back where they came from – the soil; and those nutrients literally get trampled down into the critical top layer of soil that is responsible for a staggering majority of plant growth. There’s much less need for emission-heavy machine tilling, or chemical fertilizers.
3. Reducing Emissions
A cow that is “start to finish” grass-fed is a cow that is not fed grain on a feedlot before being sent to slaughter. Feedlots can be huge sources of greenhouse gas emissions – both from the inefficiency of transporting grain grown elsewhere to cattle and the inefficiency of managing manure that isn’t trampled directly back into the soil.
Order Environmentally Safe Beef
At Farm2Fork we focus on the quality of our meat, and we have incredible grass fed options (regeneratively raised). Don't wait, shop & order environmentally safe beef now!
