Cr ow d s o urcing:
What Does Sustainability Mean to the
Beef Industry - and to Consumers?
And, what is the industry doing to position itself for 2021 and beyond as a leader in a sustainable production?
by Joli A. Hohenstein
S
ustainability stood out as one of the big buzzwords for 2020 – a term so buzzy it was thrown into any conversation around a professed desire for bettering the world. Its definition remains both fluid and polarizing, particularly in a world where consumers’ increasing interest in where their food comes from leads them down the Google wormhole of threats both real and perceived. So what does sustainability mean: What do we think it means, and what do beef consumers think it means? More importantly, what do we want them to know about how we’re really defining sustainability in the cattle world? We crowdsourced a few subject matter experts to help find some answers. We started with the basics. What is sustainability? “We need to understand or broaden the conversation about what sustainability means and not get caught up in measuring everything,” says Dr. Jason Sawyer, associate professor, King Ranch Institute for Ranch Management in Kingsville, Texas. “Big picture: There’s a world full of people, 26
Illinois Beef - March/April 2021
and we all need to eat. But, we as the beef industry don’t want to be reactionary. We need to sustain our ability to feed ourselves. That means having healthy and vibrant agriculture.” How do beef farmers define sustainability? “We’re seventh generation farmers,” says Krystal Jungmann of Sumner Point Beef, a cow-calf farm in Little York. “That to me is the definition of sustainability: having something to give to the eighth generation. Sumner Point Beef was born out of sustainability; it is about sustaining who we are, supporting this business that has grown into what the consumer is wanting.” “We think about our operation as needing to be regenerating of itself,” says Bradley Wolter of Windy Hill Meadows, a purebred Angus farm in Aviston. “This spans the scope from our pastures needing to continuously provide forages year over year, cows needing to reproduce efficiently each year, to include maintaining economic profitability of our farm to ensure it maintains a successful contribution to our community. We believe we must continuously improve what we do in a way that balances the interest of our stakeholders.”
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