Sustaining The Ranch

An increasing world population and growing demand for beef raises the question of whether or not the industry can sustainably produce large quantities of quality beef for consumers.
Oklahoma State University’s Sara Place says many factors can affect sustainability in agriculture — the average age of producers, barriers to young people entering the business, and public perceptions and misinformation. She shares her definition of sustainability.
Place: “What I always define it as producing safe nutritious beef for human consumption but doing it with long-term business viability, stewardship of natural resources, and responsibility to community, family and animals. A lot of this discussion and interest really started with the environmental issues. But it has since moved on and we are realizing that we need to encompass other issues as well.”
Sustainability may seem like a buzz word to many, however multi-generational farms and ranches have been practicing sustainable management for years.
Place: “First off if we are going to be thinking about long-term business viability — all those things that producers have been doing to make sure that they are going to be successful in business and be able to pass that business on to the next generation. Those fall under sustainability — it’s just calling it different things or realizing that it is about sustainability when producers are doing that.”
And the fact that the U.S. beef herd has been able to meet demand – despite one of the lowest cow inventories in history – is a testament to a rancher’s ability to improve efficiency while maintaining needed sustainability for the future.