Agricultural News
K-State's Ted Schroeder Says Sustainability Doesn't Have To Break the Bank
Tue, 31 May 2016 21:27:24 CDT
The term "sustainability" will often get mixed reactions among cattle producers. While some may look at it as added costs to make modifications to an operation, Dr. Ted Schroeder, agricultural economics professor at Kansas State University, says it's more about individual producers just using their specific resources wisely.
"The key thing is for them to go in and say are we doing thing here in a way that's the most efficient, the most effective for our operation?" he says. "These are just good management practices in a lot of ways."
At the same time, Schroeder says it's important to consider the long-term impact producers are having on their operations.
"Asking some questions in addition to just what's the efficiency of the operation day-to-day and per pound of calf or per pound of animal fed and finished," he says. "What are some other impacts that I may be having long run that I may not always recognize myself short run?"
Schroeder recently spoke at the Beef Sustainability Knowledge Summit in Manhattan, Kan. He says beef producers need to understand that sustainability will have an impact on beef demand - either positive or negative.
"The modern, young consumer - who is the consumer for our future in this industry - they have very specific expectations about food - beef in particular, but food in general," he says. "Some of those have dimensions of sustainability that are consistent with some of the things we're hearing in the sustainability arena, and some of them aren't always the same. In other words, sustainability could compliment or not compliment those attributes.
"Sustainability could actually adversely affect competitive pricing - components of it could - if you added a bunch of costs and you weren't just simply being more efficient."
Schroeder talks more about sustainability in the beef industry during the latest Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is 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.
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