Cattle Producers Need Share Their Sustainability Story

Beef demand continues to increase, and so does the demand from consumers to know how that beef is produced. Sustainability is a key word that can make producers hesitant, but Kirsten Nickles with Certified Angus says it doesn’t have to. The Sustainability and Animal Care Scientist noted that most ranchers don’t need to completely change their management strategies.

“Realistically, you're doing a lot of these things already today, right? When it comes to cattle care, when it comes to the environment. Now let's just go through programs like, the Beef Quality Assurance program for example, let's go get BQA certified," Nickles said. "Because that is going to help us drive consumer trust and consumer demand. Because we know that consumers have questions about animal welfare, how cattle are raised, why they're raised the way they are. And we know through consumer research that even just something simple like BQA certification and saying, hey, look, producers are professionals and what they do, they're going through continuous education. They're staying up to date on the best management practices, the latest and greatest research that's out there today coming from land grants. That's what builds the BQA program. So, it's really great from the standpoint of, it increases consumer trust, but it's also a good thing for the cattle producer.”

Producers Need To Remember To Tell Their Story

Nickles added it’s also important for producers to be proactive and share their story, even if it seems like a small, mundane task; that information will help educate consumers about what’s taking place on today’s ranch. She added it’s important for consumers to remember:

“Behind every pound of beef that gets sold in this country, it ties back to a family, somewhere," Nickles said. "It's a family farm or ranch somewhere in this country that really does care. We want to leave things better than we found it because it's inherent in our nature. We want that next generation to come back and take over the family farm, the family ranch. And like I said at the end of the day, we've made a lot of progress over the last several decades and I think it's just inherent in our producer culture, we can always get better, we're always looking for the next technology that's going to help us. We're looking at how to improve and I think that's true still holds true today.”