3-8 IAN Carbon Footprint

 Studies suggest that the carbon footprint of beef has been dramatically reduced.

Traci Bracco, Executive Director of the Idaho Beef Council told me that beef’s carbon footprint has gone down and she backed it up with research.  “Newly published research shows that the environmental footprint of these is shrinking. A new study by Dr. Jude Caper from Washington State University published recently in the Journal of Animal Science found that each pound of beef raised in 2007 compared to 1977, uses 33% less land, 12% less water, 19% less feed and 9% less fossil fuel energy than the equivalent beef in 1977. This information proves that the carbon footprint of beef is shrinking by over 16% in the last 30 years. According to this research we have seen improvements in the way that cattle are raised and the way they are fed in the US between 1977 and 2007 has yielded 13% more beef with 31% fewer animals. So raising more beef with fewer animals maximizes our natural resources while providing essential nutrients for the human diet. This is really great news for those of us in the beef industry. We have long known that our cattlemen care for the land and they want to leave it in better shape and the environment in the best shape for future generations and it is research like this that proves that we are a sustainable industry and we care about the carbon footprint of our resources.