U.S. cattle farmers and ranchers produce the most sustainable beef in the world through decades of improvement and innovation.
According to the University of California-Davis CLEAR Center, the U.S. is expected to produce three times more beef in 2024 with 87.15 million head of cattle, the lowest since 1951. The industry is producing more beef with fewer cattle through better nutrition and health, genetics and breeding, and other management practices.
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Services (NASS)
In fact, beef production in the U.S. has a carbon footprint 10 to 50 times lower than other regions of the world, and according to the Environmental Protection Agency, greenhouse gas (GHG) from beef cattle only represents 2% of emissions in the U.S.
Here are a few more facts about beef sustainability! Did you know. . .
The U.S. produces 18% of the world’s beef with just 6% of the world’s cattle (ranking third in worldwide total cattle population).
Continued improvements in productivity allow U.S. beef cattle to reach harvest weight in a shorter amount of time than in other countries. Comparatively, 2.66 cattle are required to produce the same amount of beef as one beef animal in the United States than in other countries. In fact, the U.S. has the lowest emission intensity per pound of beef produced and has been the world leader in this since 1996.
Nicholas Meat values dairy farmers as we source 70% of our beef from Pennsylvania dairy farmers. Using innovative practices, the environmental impact of producing a gallon of milk in 2017 shrunk significantly and now requires 30% less water, 21% less land and 19 % smaller carbon footprint than in 2007.
In 2008, the U.S. dairy industry conducted a life cycle assessment (LCA) on a national scale to learn more about dairy production’s impact on the environment. The assessment found that U.S. dairy accounts for approximately 2% of total greenhouse gas emissions, 5.1% of water use and 3.7% of U.S. farmland.
All of agriculture, including beef production, accounts for approximately 10% of total U.S. emissions.
By contrast, transportation accounts for 29% of GHG emissions and electricity accounts for nearly 28% of GHG emissions in the U.S.
The methane belched from cattle is not adding new carbon to the atmosphere. Rather, it is part of the natural cycling of carbon through the biogenic carbon cycle.
The methane from cattle stays in the atmosphere for approximately 10 years before being recycled back into the ground, whereas carbon emitted from fossil fuels stays in the atmosphere permanently.
If all livestock in the U.S. were eliminated and every American followed a vegan diet, GHG emissions would only be reduced by 2.6%, or 0.36% globally.
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