Sustainability: Easy to Say, Difficult to Define

Cattle grazing in large pastures that have been in the
 same family for generations - that's verysustainable, in my opinion.

Sustainability is a buzz-word and news topic that is not going away anytime soon; remember the green movement? Well, now we’ve surpassed a movement and plowed full steam ahead into a reformation of the way we think, plan, grow and progress. Restaurants, NGOs, natural resource companies – entities around the world are reevaluating their business plans and searching for tactics to become sustainable and attractive to the millennial mind.

The problem, however, with throwing the word “sustainable” around so often is that it’s extremely subjective. My definition of sustainable is polar opposite to that of McDonald’s, which varies from that of the Environmental Protection Agency, which varies from the actual definition of sustainable, “Capable of being sustained; able to last or continue for a long time.” Thanks, Merriam-Webster.

By English literature standards, there are thousands of farms and ranches that qualify as sustainable. Take my husband’s family farm for example: they have been farming and raising cattle on the same piece of land since 1847. That’s more than 165 years of food production on a farm that has weathered the Civil War, the Great Depression, the farm crisis of the 1980s and annual increases in vital inputs. If that farm isn’t the picture of sustainability, then I’ll eat an artichoke (in case you don’t know me, I’m not a big fan of green food!).

The underlying issue is that one cannot use a broom to paint a portrait – each farm and ranch varies from the next and sustainable practices that conserve natural resources are vastly different between states. What works in northwest Ohio, where the average annual precipitation is 34 inches, is probably not going to work in west Texas, where the average annual precipitation is a mere 19 inches.

Instead of trying to come up with a one-size-fits-all panacea, the beef community needs to unite and work together internally to implement already proven sustainable practices rather than waiting for a third-party regulatory body to do it for us.

Until next time,
~ Buzzard ~

 Disclaimer: I wrote this for the Masters of Beef Advocacy newsletter that was distributed a few weeks ago but I had to share it here too. It's applicable to more than just MBA grads!

Earth Day for Ranchers

It's Earth Day so I'm doing Wordless Wednesday a bit early this week, hence the words :)

We produce a lot of beef in the U.S. and we do it through sustainable practices that allow us to pass down farms and ranches from generation to generation. The Ninja's family farm has been in ownership by the same family, on the same ground, for more than 150 years!



Sustainably producing more beef using fewer resources -
 that's the American beef industry on Earth Day and every day!

Until next time,

~ Buzzard ~

Wordless Wednesday: Sustainable Beef Production

Click to enlarge