Beef

The following links serve as a companion to The 2050 Criteria, providing additional data, information, tools, and resources on the beef sector. For context and more complete guidance, download the full report.

Data & Information

• The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) maintains a rich database of country-level and issue-level Sector Briefs on livestock, providing a valuable asset for opportunity and risk analyses for specific geographies.
• The Society for Range Management, established in 1948 and consisting of more than 4,000 members in 48 countries, is a collaborative organization of scientists, land managers, educators, and conservationists dedicated to preserving rangelands.
• The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) (originally established by Congress in 1935 as the Soil Conservation Service), is administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and has expanded to become a conservation leader for all natural resources, ensuring that private lands are conserved, restored, and more resilient to environmental challenges such as climate change.
• The Savory Institute is an organization dedicated to “Holistic Management” of grassland ranges and “Holistic Decision Making”.
• The Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI) is an industry and stakeholder organization focused on sustainable agriculture. The SAI just launched a beef working group.
  
• Embrapa Beef Cattle, located in Campo Grande, MS, Brazil, researches technology and best-practices for beef, leather, and other horticultural industries in Brazil. Embrapa currently has a partnership with WWF-Brasil to develop Best Management Practices.
• The UN FAO’s Livestock's Long Shadow was a seminal report on the beef industry and greenhouse gas emissions, despite subsequent controversies over GHG calculation methodology.
• The Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef convenes a stakeholder dialogue around sustainable beef production.

Evaluation & Certification

• The International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Good Practice Note on Animal Welfare in Livestock Production addresses risks, reasoning, and guidance for assessing animal welfare in horticultural production systems.
• The Sustainable Agriculture Network developed a standard for sustainable cattle production systems.
• The FAO built a global agenda of action for sustainable livestock sector development.