The second project is in affiliation with Oklahoma’s Noble Research Institute. Bailey says in this project, the full beef chain is engaged. Cow/calf producers from Oklahoma and Texas, who are members of the Integrity Beef Alliance, provide animals to Beef Marketing Group feedyards in Kansas, where they are fed out. Those cattle are processed at a Tyson plant, with the beef then moving to Golden State Foods, where it is made into patties for use by McDonald’s.
Bailey says they are using metrics established by the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (USRSB), even though those metrics are not yet finalized.
“As we go through the process, we are getting feedback from participants, which we are putting into the public comments [for the metrics]. It’s one thing to come up with a metric, but, theoretically, when you have to answer and validate it, it gives you another perspective. This has been a great way to provide real-life input into the metrics.”
In the first year, 29 producers sold cattle into the program, adding up to about 2,300 head, or 91,000 pounds of beef for hamburgers. There were no breed specifics, and the beef, selling in the U.S. market, was not differentiated.
These projects by McDonald’s are just part of a mountain of behind-the-scenes work coming to fruition this year by the USRSB. The group will formally release its sustainability framework soon, which will include indicators, metrics and assessment guides.
The USRSB is one of more than 20 countries that now have roundtables or initiatives as part of the GRSB. These include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, European Union, Mexico, New Zealand, Paraguay, countries in southern Africa and the United States. The GRSB officially formed its foundational principles and criteria in 2012 and held its first global conference in Brazil in 2014. That was followed by a meeting in Canada in 2016 and the most recent one in Ireland in 2018, when the European Roundtable for Beef Sustainability announced its formation.
Attendees of the meeting spent some time in the country visiting a generations-old farm owned by John and Catherine Power. The two are flagship producers for McDonald’s beef, which goes to an area plant, Dawn Meats.
Power says their operation is about 400 acres in size and includes 200 cows. It’s considered large by Irish standards. Like many U.S. producers, Power says one of his primary goals is to pass this operation on to the next generation, his son Allen. He hopes the tools of sustainability will help him do that.
“We have a passion for sustainability,” he tells GRSB visitors. “We’re not doing it for the money. It’s tradition here for the land to pass down, and today land is very expensive.”
Power notes that he and other producers are struggling under regulatory pressures from the government. Programs such as the European Roundtable for Sustainable Beef that recognize his efforts will hopefully be a benefit.
“Every animal in Ireland has a passport,” he notes, referring to the nation’s traceability system. They rely on metal ear tags and rigorous tracking of identification numbers each time an animal moves. If an animal moves more than four times in its life, it is not accepted into the buying program. Animals cannot be slaughtered without documentation.
Power describes his farm as having two rivers through it, conservation areas and annual perennial grasses. He finishes cattle on wheat, barley, oats and distillers grains.
Despite his frustration about regulatory issues, the farmer says he can’t imagine doing anything else. It’s a sentiment U.S. producers will understand well.
“You’re never going to make a lot of money being a farmer,” he says. “But, the quality of life is important to us. There’s no traffic. It’s quiet. We love it here. The most important thing to a farmer is to be able to make a decent living, take care of your farm and have it be there for the next generation.”
MAKING AN IMPACT
Time will tell how sustainability, as defined by roundtables and the GRSB, impacts that goal. So far, however, growth in the group’s membership has been impressive. To date, 65.42% of global beef production is represented in some form at the GRSB. Combining Brazil, the European Union and the U.S. represents roughly 47% of the world’s beef production.
The GRSB represents six constituencies: producers/producer associations, commerce and processing, retail, civil, allied industry and national or regional roundtables. Some names on the membership roster will be very familiar to U.S. beef producers, including the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, Bayer Animal Health, Cargill, Dow AgroSciences, Elanco, JBS, Merck Animal Health, National Wildlife Federation, Rabobank, Texas A&M, World Wildlife Fund and Zoetis, to name a few.
The GRSB has established five principles and criteria of sustainable beef: natural resources, people and community, animal health and welfare, food and efficiency/innovation. The GRSB does not regulate or enforce any set of metrics or guides. The member roundtables each establish that and then work within their country or region to help build a source of sustainable beef defined by that country’s metrics for buyers such as McDonald’s. How that process looks will be very different depending on where a producer is based.
McDonald’s Bailey says it’s important to point out that the concept of sustainability, by its very nature, can’t be driven as a premium program.
“If we’re just relying on premiums to advance sustainability, then it’s like a subsidy. The sustainable practices aren’t sustainable if they are subsidized by a premium. To really be sustainable, it has to be a practice that, in and of itself, is providing returns for both the farmer and environment.”
U.S. ROUNDTABLE FINALIZING FRAMEWORK
After receiving more than 450 public comments, the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (USRSB) released what it calls a “Sustainability Framework” for a second round of comments through the end of 2018. All of the group’s work will culminate in a framework for sustainable beef production in the U.S., to be released at a meeting in May 2019, in Fresno, California.
Kim Stackhouse-Lawson, JBS USA sustainability director and 2018-19 USRSB chair, says the feedback was critical in helping to finalize the framework.
“We were able to further clarify judicious use of antibiotics, expand upon practices that could mitigate greenhouse gas emissions or improve carbon sequestration, and further define our role in the implementation of market programs for sustainable beef based on feedback from the public,” she notes.
The USRSB announced it would recuse itself from any sustainable market program or regulatory affairs. While the group’s framework can be implemented in the marketplace, “no certification or verification program will be led by the USRSB.” It also notes the USRSB will not engage in regulatory or lobbying efforts.
The group will support the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef’s stand on antibiotic stewardship, which aligns with that of the World Organization for Animal Health guidance. And, the group will provide information on sources and practices that can mitigate emissions or improve carbon sequestration.
For more information
> Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef:
grsbeef.org
> U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef:
usrsb.org
(GH/AG)
© Copyright 2019 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.