Bringing Bison Back

Building on Bison. I'm Greg Martin with todays Line On Agriculture.??It is hard to believe that once upon a time the earth rumbled and the prairies looked like an ocean of dark brown fur as massive herds of bison roamed the landscape. In the late 1800s and early 1900s those numbers were in down to a very small handful. The American bison was all but extinct. Now thanks to the efforts of ag producers across the country the bison is enjoying a welcome return and Dave Carter with the National Bison Association says the last couple of years have seen an upturn.

??CARTER: I think overall right now there is a great feeling of optimism in the bison business. Our industry went through some tough times, in the last 3 to 4 years weve really caught on fire and are growing very steadily and whats very encouraging Greg is its being driven by consumer demand. The great thing today is that folks all around the country in cities and small towns alike have discovered the great taste of bison and the nutritional benefits and the fact that it is a locally produced sustainable food and so we have seen the demand really skyrocket and thats creating the incentive for some folks to build their herds and get some more product into the marketplace.??

Carter says there are some misconceptions regarding bison.

??CARTER: Well theres two of them. We still run into the misconception that people think this is an endangered species. The second big misconception is that bison is going to be tough and gamey. The way we’ve addressed that is to just put a sample on a toothpick and hand it to somebody and tell them to take a taste.??

Thats todays Line On Agriculture. Im Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.