Agricultural News
The Cattle Industry Definition of Sustainability
Mon, 17 Oct 2011 03:51:58 CDT
This past week at a conference in our nation's capitol, former National Cattlemen's Beef Association President Steve Fogelsong talked about the concept of sustainability as it relates to cattle ranchers in this country- which is coming from a much different perspective than from many environmental activists that consider sustainability consuming less food at a higher price to "save" the environment and the producers who raise livestock and grow crops- preferably small local producers.
The Beef Checkoff helped underwrite this event this past week in our nation's capitol that was hosted by the magazine (and now Internet site) Atlantic. The theme of the meeting was Feeding Future Generations and the idea was to help bridge the gap between agricultural producers and those who have little or no understanding of production agriculture.
On the website Explore Beef.Org, the event was set up this way- "Our 21st century challenge to raise enough food to feed a growing global population is complex we must increase food production, while decreasing the environmental footprint of agriculture. Feeding future generations in a way that preserves our natural resources will require new, innovative crop and livestock production methods. As the population continues to rapidly expand, how can the food industry, including the beef industry, continue to provide safe, high-quality, and nutritious foods, in a way that does not strain our natural resources?"
Fogelsong explained that sustainable cattle and beef production is all about a ranching family being able to stay on the ranch for a hundred years, producing beef, raising their family and passing the ranch from one generation to another. Implied in all of that was making a profit to keep the members of the family on the ranch.
He also discussed the current concern of the cattle industry- rebuilding the cattle herd and keeping the beef pipeline filled for consumers in this country and abroad. Both of these topics are featued in today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network- but is also a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the listen bar below for today's show- and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
Click here for the page on the Explore Beef site that has the entire Ustream video of the program.
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