Greenhouse effect, grass-fed & grain-fed beef: Episode 91

One of the misconceptions around beef is grass-fed beef is better for human health and the environment. "Many times this is promoted by those who are far removed from agriculture. Or they base it on one nutrient such as short chain omega-3 fatty acids. My scientific take: there are system trade-offs, no system absolutes."

Sarah Klopatek is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California Davis who is focused on grass-fed and grain-fed beef systems. She received her undergraduate from the University of Arizona, her masters from Texas A&M and her PhD at UC Davis. Sarah is determining how beef cattle’s water footprint has changed over the last 30 years.

"People are stressing to buy grass-fed beef, and trainers and celebrities are pushing for this product. However, this product is more expensive and consumers may feel bad it they may not be able to afford this product. Consumers should have the right to choose what protein they want to consume but providing false narrative and does not provide value to food or nutritional security.

Furthermore, when looking at sustainability one must also look at sustainability of scale. Can a small grass-fed system in Pennsylvania be sustainable? What about grass-fed for the entire country where there are areas of drought ext? Multiple systems are key to resilience and resilience is key to sustainability."

Sarah was not raised in livestock and once had a poster on her wall about the greenhouse effect. It's been her life's journey to work in science to help find the answers to reducing the effects of climate change. "Working in livestock is not antagonistic to this goal. Workin in livestock can be a part of the solution."

Connect with her on Twitter at Dr. BeefBabe & Linked in at www.linkedin.com/in/klopatek-beefphd