E-Newsletter An update from MBP October 8, 2021
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Consumer Research Demonstrates Strong Support for Cattle and Food Waste Stories
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By: Amie Peck, Public and Stakeholder Engagement, Canadian Cattlemen’s Association
agriculture, but it also represents huge amounts of products being diverted from the landfill. From the Hall and White study in 2017, it was determined that cattle utilize 43 billion kgs of food waste per year in the US. The Public and Stakeholder Engagement (PSE) team set out to determine how Canadians felt about the role of cattle in diverting food waste.
Food waste is a key focus of both national and international climate change discussions with the Government of Canada announcing its Food Waste Reduction Challenge in 2020. Over half of the food produced in Canada never makes it to our plates, with the largest percentage of waste coming at the consumption level. Reducing food waste is also the most common food goal with consumers, identified by 90% of Canadians as something they are actively doing or trying to do. It is common practice in the beef industry to upcycle food loss and waste into high quality feed for cattle. This includes crops damaged by weather or pests (which was demonstrated through drought, smoke, and grasshoppers in 2021) all the way to non-retail quality food items from grocery stores and the by-products of brewing. Not only is this demonstrating the circular economy present in
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A large online focus group was conducted in July 2021. A representative sample of Canadians was chosen and then oversampled for women under 45, which prior research shows is the demographic most concerned about the environmental impact of eating beef. Participants were first asked questions about their perceptions of the beef industry and farmers and ranchers. These were consistent with previous research conducted by PSE. Canadians do not know much about how beef cattle are raised but many have heard about potential environmental impacts. However, most Canadians feel that farmers and ranchers themselves are doing a good job taking care of the land and animals in their care. This demonstrates how trust for communications coming from ‘industry’ vs individuals raising beef cattle and highlights how important it is to have producers front and centre in public facing campaigns. continued on page 4
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