Where’s the Better Beef?
Grazing Operations: The Journey to Better Beef and Its Triple Bottom-Line Benefits
NRDC believes that better beef must meet credible, independent standards of responsible production at each step to your plate. The overwhelming scientific consensus shows that the most important impacts to reduce and minimize occur on grazing and feedlot operations.
Why it matters that all beef –- from conventional to grass-fed –- is produced on well-managed grazing operations
A growing number of ranchers and farmers are improving their land management using science and the experiences of other ranchers. As a result, their ranches are more productive and local ecosystems are thriving as they support healthy soils, water quality, and plant and animal life. These leaders are demonstrating how beef producers can help conserve and restore America’s grasslands and other grazed ecosystems.
Well-managed grazing operations generate environmental AND business benefits
Well-managed grazinglands, which include both rangelands (grazed natural grasslands and other ecosystems, mostly in the western United States) and pastures (farmland planted with grass to graze livestock, mostly in the eastern United States), provide valuable ecosystem services, including:
- Reducing carbon pollution by storing it in soil: Scientists have found that land converted from crops to well-managed grazed grassland absorbed enough carbon in its soil to offset all other emissions from the beef produced on that land.