Many of those gathered at this year’s Cattle Industry Convention and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) Trade Show in Phoenix are working toward sustainability within the beef industry at all levels of the supply chain.
“Sustainability, as defined by NCBA, is about producing safe and nutritious beef with economic viability, environmental stewardship and social responsibility,” said Dr. Sara Place, Sr. Director, Sustainable Beef Production Research at NCBA. Place said consumers often have misconceptions about things like greenhouse gas emissions when it comes to beef production.
One way the industry is working toward better educating and communicating with all members of the beef supply chain, as well as consumers, is through the formation of the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. NCBA Sr. Director of Sustainability Ashley McDonald said the Roundtable is clarifying things across the industry when it comes to sustainability.
“Everybody has made a commitment that they understand that they have an impact and that we have challenges and every sector is responsible for addressing concerns in their sector,” said McDonald.
Chairman of the Roundtable Rickette Collins agrees. She is Sr. Director for Beef/Pork/Fish in the Global Supply Chain and Sustainability with McDonald’s Corporation.
“Being able to see the programs and the practices and the policies that are already in place and implemented… while I think we all knew they were there, getting to that level of detail and granularity and really seeing it firsthand has been a really big help and I think has helped shape actually the way that the Roundtable has developed,” said Collins.
The Roundtable plans to release Sustainability Assessment Guides for all sectors of the beef industry in May of 2018.
Listen to Jamie’s interview with Dr. Sara Place here: Dr. Sara Place, NCBA
Listen to Jamie’s interview with Rickette Collins here: Rickette Collins, McDonald's
Listen to Jamie’s interview with Ashley McDonald here: Ashley McDonald, NCBA