Consumers Role in Ranching and Grassland Conservation
Steers grazing hilltops in the Porcupine Hills
As a rancher what is the biggest message you would like to pass on regarding the importance of ranching for grassland conservation?
It is actually very simple. Conservation occurs through sustainably and/or regeneratively grazing cattle. Yet economics motivates the cultivation of grasslands for crop production. The return on cultivated land far exceeds the ROI on intact grasslands. Ranching truly is a career of love and passion, not a get rich game. This is the reason 74% of Canadian native grasslands have been lost to cultivation and development. Society focuses on Brazilian rainforests, but we have an endangered ecosystem in our own backyard! We as a society desperately need to hold on to what intact grasslands remain.
The fact that ranchers continue to steward these lands is the reason that the remaining 24% of Canadian native grasslands are intact
By stewarding these grasslands ranchers are sequestering carbon, recycling nutrients through the soil, filtering and holding water, and maintaining and/or encouraging species biodiversity. The most effective tool to do this is ruminants.
This message has been drowned out and overpowered by the villainization of beef through media, politicians, celebrities and big business. WE all need to work together with both government support and through our education system to elevate our voice and showcase the essential impact the sustainable beef industry truly has on our environment, and the meaningful impact it has in preventing climate change.
The narrative regarding beef simply must change
We honestly believe consumers are hungry for sustainable food, but don’t always have a way of finding and supporting local best practice producers. Or in many cases finances prevail and lower cost and non sustainable imported protein products are sourced as an alternative. Regardless the narrative regarding beef must change. Consumer demand can better finance the preservation and expansion of sustainable ranching, and therefore the conservation of our grasslands. Sustainable ranching must find a way to endure. We all have an obligation to do right by nature.