Cattle Feeders Care for the Environment

Raising beef responsibly is a top priority for cattle feeders which is why they utilize practices that are good for the environment. Improved efficiency means a lower carbon footprint and fewer natural resources used for every pound of beef. 

Agriculture, land use, land use change and forestry combined in the U.S. are a net sink of CO2 equivalent emissions, meaning they remove more metric tons of CO2 from the atmosphere than they emit.

Other Cattle & Climate Facts

• The U.S. beef industry has one of the lowest carbon footprints in the world—10 to 50 times lower than some nations. 
• U.S. farmers and ranchers produce 18% of the world’s beef with only 8% of the world’s cattle. 
• Cattle are “upcyclers” in our food system. Rather than simply recycling, cattle upgrade human inedible plants and food waste into high-quality protein and essential micronutrients. 
• Research continues to demonstrate that methane from cattle does not result in a net increase in carbon in the atmosphere. Methane is short-lived and part of a natural carbon cycle that moves from the air to soil to plants and release the methane back into the atmosphere where the cycle starts over again.