According to the Kansas Livestock Association (KLA) Executive Vice President Dee Likes and American Angus Association CEO Bryce Schumann met recently with the executive committee at the American Royal to express concern over the show’s planned emphasis on locally produced food program slated for this year’s show. The concern about the planned Good Food Good Futures Institute stems from the stated initiative to "reorganize agriculture" by moving away from conventional production and more toward natural, organic and more "environmentally sustainable" operations.
The beef groups told American Royal leaders that mainstream ranchers and feeders don’t oppose natural, organic or locally produced systems, but they are concerned when marketers disparage conventional meat and agricultural products in an effort to create differentiation. These are growing segments of agriculture, but represent only a single-digit percentage of food production. Beef executives emphasized farmers and ranchers involved in conventional agriculture, which includes most producers, will be challenged to meet projections that food production needs to double by 2050 in order to feed the expected growth in world population.
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