Agricultural News
Rancher Debbie Lyons-Blythe Defends Beef Industry's Proactive Efforts in Fighting Climate Change
Wed, 22 May 2019 11:19:06 CDT
This week in Washington, DC, the Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing on climate change. One of those testifying before the Senate from the State of Kansas was Debbie Lyons-Blythe, who ranches with her family from the Flint Hills near Junction City and Emporia. This ranch lady, a mom and a blogger representing the stakeholders of the beef cattle industry, says at the end of the day it was a positive experience appearing before the Senators, including Senate Ag Committee Chairman Pat Roberts.
"I really thought it went very well. Frankly, I feel like the committee is very connected and interested in truly making some good decisions about how we can be helpful in the climate change discussion," she said. "I felt there was bipartisanship - you could see where some of them were lining up, but I feel very good about the discussion and what I was able to bring to the table."
Lyons-Blythe remarked that her underlying goal in testifying was to make the committee members understand that cattle ranchers are already engaged in improving their level of sustainability - from the individual up systematically to the entire industry. She says until recently, producers just haven't called what they are doing "sustainability." Lyons-Blythe testified that producers have always been interested in conservation, animal welfare and doing what is right citing real examples such as the industry's use of innovative technologies to increase efficiency and voluntary proactive efforts to improve production methods through organizations like the US Roundtable for Sustainable Beef.
"As I told the committee - farmers and ranchers don't wake up and say 'how can I impact carbon sequestration today?'" she laughed. "But, truly we do. We don't use those buzzwords but we are interested in doing a better job and conserving our resources and we really are important stewards of our natural resources."
Listen to Lyons-Blythe share more of her thoughts and briefing on the testimony she delivered before the Senate Ag Committee this week, with Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays, on today's 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.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...