NATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

GOOGLE: SEARCH BEEF SUSTAINABILITY

from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association President Don Schiefelbein

As I talk to cattle producers throughout the country, I’m frequently asked why NCBA talks about sustainability. I know this word can generate alarm bells, but NCBA has embraced this topic because sustainable exactly describes American cattle production. It is our duty to share the sustainability story of our industry and help to keep the media, policymakers and consumers informed with the most accurate, science-based information of beef sustainability.

The daily practices you employ on your farm or ranch contribute to cattle industry sustainability, whether you associate the word with them or not. All of us in the industry have a connection to land and our businesses would not survive unless we cared about protecting healthy grasses, rich soils and clean water. All these practices ensure that our way of life can continue for generations — that’s sustainability.

Recently, NCBA learned that Google was implementing a new search feature that would steer consumers away from beef. If someone Googled a recipe, the feature would show the carbon emissions associated with the recipe and how those emissions could change depending on the main ingredients used. As you might expect, beef is at the top of the list for protein-related emissions in this feature. Through singling out carbon emissions, this Google feature will mislead consumers into believing that they should not choose beef as a sustainable part of a nutritious diet. This search feature is flawed for many reasons, but at the top of the list is Google’s failure to account for the full, sciencebased picture of the sustainability of beef production.

To create this feature, Google is relying on data from the United Nations, which pulls from a few different sources to provide a general estimate of carbon emissions per kg of food. In any of these instances, beef will always come out looking to be the most impactful food option and this is primarily due to the methodology used to estimate carbon dioxide equivalent emissions, placing a higher weight on the short-lived greenhouse gas, methane, than the long-lived carbon dioxide. However, in a system as complex as beef production, a short-sighted view on greenhouse gas emissions is misleading and, frankly, dangerous.

As soon as we heard about this issue, NCBA contacted Google and the media about our concerns with this feature. We pushed back on the claim that Google’s feature would improve “sustainable” eating by highlighting all the conservation practices that cattle producers employ. We also argued that true sustainability is about more than just carbon in the atmosphere; it’s about protecting land, strengthening rural communities, and feeding a hungry world with the high-quality protein that is beef.

When NCBA released sustainability goals last year, we recognized that measuring true sustainability means considering the entire impact of beef on the environment and society. While emissions play a role — and the science consistently proves that the U.S. has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions from cattle of any country in the world — sustainability should also reflect beef’s value to the environment. For example, cattle grazing improves grassland soil health and helps grasses store more carbon. Grazing also reduces wildfire fuels, which protects communities throughout the country. Since 1975, American cattle producers have reduced emissions by more than 30% while producing more beef per animal. The result is fewer emissions with more beef to feed the world.

As a protein source, beef plays an important role in our diet. Beef provides essential nutrients like vitamin B12, folate and iron, which are especially important for growing children and pregnant women. The cattle industry also supports the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Americans, not only producers, but also truck drivers who haul cattle, feed producers, equipment manufacturers, veterinarians and more.

Keeping rural communities strong, feeding the world, and caring for our nation’s land is sustainable in my book. All these practices ensure that our way of life can continue for generations to come, and that is the pinnacle of sustainability.

Unfortunately, only a small number of Americans ever see a farm or ranch, and the media has spread the myth of “factory farming.” To combat this narrative, we use words like sustainability to talk about the hard work and dedication that goes into raising cattle. While companies like Google may have billions of dollars to spread their message, we have the truth and data on our side.

Every day, NCBA is fighting back against the falsehoods being spread about the cattle industry. We’re in the trenches so you don’t have to be, and you can focus on what you do best: raising the highest quality beef in the world. Thank you for placing your trust in NCBA. By being a member, you’ve shown that you have our backs in this fight.

Wall Street Regulator Wades into Beef Business

from the National Cattlemen's Beef Association

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was founded at the height of the Great Depression when massive swings in the New York Stock Exchange made Americans fearful of investing in the stock market. The SEC’s mission is simple: protect investors; maintain fair, orderly and efficient markets; and facilitate capital formation.

Most Americans never interact with the SEC. While the SEC is tasked with regulating the financial markets that many Americans are invested in (through retirement, 401K or brokerage accounts), only the top investment firms, publicly traded companies and major shareholders are regulated by the agency. That is, until SEC Chairman Gary Gensler came along.

Gary Gensler was appointed SEC Chair in 2021, just a few short months after President Biden took office. Since becoming chair, Gensler has made ESG investing a top priority. ESG refers to environmental, social and governance, and it is the idea that investors should review a company’s climate policies, social and workforce practices, and corporate ethics and governance standards as part of determining whether the company is a good investment. ESG is controversial, with opponents arguing that the ESG metrics prioritize company politics over purely economic decisions.

While the SEC, members of Congress and investors have been debating ESG for some time, the cattle industry became involved when the SEC proposed a controversial, sweeping climate disclosure rule in March 2022.

Under the rule, all publicly traded companies would have to disclose their direct (scope 1), energy/electricity use (scope 2), and supply chain (scope 3) greenhouse gas emissions. By requiring the inclusion of scope 3 emissions, the SEC stepped far beyond its jurisdiction and placed a mandate on private companies like farms and ranches. Any cattle producer whose beef is eventually sold by a publicly traded restaurant or retailer could be liable for reporting greenhouse gas metrics from their operation.

This proposed rule poses a multitude of issues for cattle producers. First, there is no way to measure greenhouse gas emissions on the farm or ranch level, and the federal government already admitted as much. Second, the SEC is a financial sector regulator with no understanding of agriculture. The SEC’s divisions include corporate finance, economic risk and analysis, enforcement, examinations, investment management and trading and markets. None of those divisions are equipped to handle agricultural or environmental issues, and the SEC would have to increase staff to even handle the amount of new data being requested. Third, the rule is a massive invasion of producer privacy. Court cases like American Farm Bureau Federation v. EPA have established the precedent that farmers and ranchers have the right to maintain data privacy, and this proposed rule would force the release of confidential information.

“The SEC is tasked with regulating large publicly traded companies and major investors, not private businesses like cattle operations,” said NCBA Chief Counsel Mary-Thomas Hart. “Immediately after the rule was released, NCBA launched a campaign to tell the SEC to stick to regulating Wall Street, not main street. NCBA also submitted technical comments with a large coalition of other livestock and agricultural organizations sending the same message.”

Through NCBA’s grassroots campaign, cattle producers submitted more than 7,460 comments to the SEC commissioners and members of Congress. This sends a strong message to policymakers that their decisions will have an impact on rural America.

NCBA also emphasized that other federal agencies already provide climate metrics for the cattle industry. The Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas inventory has consistently indicated that direct emissions from cattle account for just 2 percent of total greenhouse gas emissions. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also maintains lifecycle assessments that provide more than enough climate data to satisfy the SEC.

Now that the SEC has proposed this rule, the agency is required to review the comments they have received. This includes thousands of comments from cattle producers as well as investment industry advocates, environmental lobbyists and others. After the agency reviews the comments, the rule will be finalized and placed in effect.

“The SEC’s decision to wade into agriculture, beyond the bounds of its constitutional jurisdiction, is remarkable,” Hart said. “Regardless, NCBA will continue being an advocate for the cattle industry and we thank you for partnering with us to stop overreaching climate rules on farms and ranches.”

10 years of hitting the genetic improvement mark

Better genetics are quickly becoming the hero to developing sustainable, efficient cattle herds. As producers seek reliable genetics to improve efficiency and carcass quality, animals with genomic information provide opportunities to reach goals at a faster pace.

In 2022, the American Hereford Association (AHA) reaches a milestone of 10 years for using genomicenhanced expected progeny differences (GE-EPDs) in its genetic evaluation. By blending conventional EPDs with genomic data gathered from DNA testing, GEEPDs have a significantly higher success rate in predicting progeny performance. Shane Bedwell, director of breed improvement for the Association, explains the benefits.

“Commercial producers — they’re buying a wellrounded bull that has the guesswork taken out of it. The amount of breed improvement those producers can make in buying a bull that has its data captured at an early stage in life, they have a great leg up,” Bedwell says. “The possible change of a young sire becomes minimized drastically when you’re buying a bull that has all of the phenotypic and genomic data included in its EPDs.”

Commercial cattlemen who buy bulls with GE-EPDs — or producers who request cattle to be genotyped — will mitigate future risk in their breeding programs. The more genomic information they have, the more accurate genetic predictions and expressed phenotypes become. The accuracy of GE-EPDs on unproven animals are equal to 20 progeny records on average, depending on the trait.

“When our producers request an animal to be genotyped, they get lots of information,” says Jack Ward, AHA executive vice president. “If all of the parents are there, they get a parent verification. They get all of the genetic abnormalities tested for. Then, we produce a genotype that is used in the evaluation to help predict the EPDs and make them more reliable.”

The AHA was one of the first to develop and market genomic predictions, and Hereford breeders saw the improvements after applying the technology to their herds. Since then, the Baldy Maternal Index (BMI$) increased 43 percent, the Brahman-Influenced Index (BII$) increased 55 percent, and the Certified Hereford Beef Index (CHB$) increased 10 percent.

But 10 years is only the beginning for applying genomic technology to trait selection. Ward expects there to be more EPDs added in the future that will help the breed and its producers select for sustainable genetics in the industry.

“When you talk about sustainability and effects on the environment, I believe there is either going to be a trait in terms of an economic index or an EPD that will help us predict those genetics that are less harmful to the environment, or have a better effect on it,” Ward says. “I think the sky is the limit on what we might do."

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