The Climate Crisis and the future of the US beef industry
- R Dennis Olson
- Oct 2
- 1 min read
By R Dennis Olson
Published May 16, 2022, IUF
The 2011-2012 drought collapsed the US cattle herd to its lowest level since 1941. It has still not recovered, and the jury is still out as to when or if it ever will. This essay argues for stronger antitrust enforcement and trade reforms to incentivize ranchers to reduce the carbon footprint of beef by rebuilding the US herd and curtailing the dumping of US beef demand onto South America, which is driving the expansion of cattle ranching into rainforests. Reinstatement of supply management with strategic grain reserves would set a price floor under feed grains at the real cost of production, eliminating a massive indirect feed subsidy to industrial animal factories. This would incentivize the movement cattle out of industrial confinement facilities and back out on to sustainable pasture rotations, breaking up fossil-fuel based corn and soy monocultures, rebuilding healthier soils, fixing more carbon, and making the countryside more resilient in the face of rising climate volatility.
Comments