When people have questions about how food actually gets to the table, where they get their answers is important. Each year, the California Beef Council (CBC) invites retail and foodservice professionals to get answers to their questions firsthand—from the people who actually raise cattle for beef and dairy products in California.
These Pasture to Plate Beef Tours bring food industry professionals face-to-face with beef and dairy producers in multiple segments of the supply chain. Recently, the CBC hosted 18 members of the foodservice team for Southern California’s largest theme park.
“Tour attendees represent culinary, sourcing, and sustainability teams,” said Christie Van Egmond, CBC’s director of retail and foodservice marketing. “This tour provides an inside look at the beef supply chain and gives our tour guests a chance to learn more about wholesome, nutritious beef by interacting with the people who raise beef cattle and operate dairy farms in California.”
One of the most anticipated events at the recent CBC Pasture to Plate tour was the FarmHER & RancHER panel, a lively discussion featuring some of California’s most engaged women working on the front lines of animal agriculture. Moderated by San Diego-area rancher and the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s 2023 Advocate of the Year Alli Fender, the panel included Fulbright Scholar and award-winning Fresno County rancher and entrepreneur Rizpah Bellard, fourth generation Fresno County rancher and direct-to-consumer beef business owner Brooke Helsel, and fourth generation Modesto-area dairy farmer and tenured dairy science professor Nicole Morris.
As Fender noted, while the panelists are all in the cattle business, each has a very different background and unique operation, and so the discussion began there. Dairy farmer Nicole Morris noted that many of the attendees must be wondering why she is on a panel about beef. While her primary focus is producing milk every single day, “dairy-beef crosses contribute about 20% of the actual beef that’s produced here in California and the U.S., so we play a small part in beef production,” she said.
Day-to-day operations, while mundane to a rancher, were eye-opening to attendees, as was the fact that many ranchers also have additional jobs. “My mom is on the ranch 365—every single day,” said Helsel. Both Helsel and her husband have outside jobs–she is with an animal health firm, and he works on another ranch.
Morris noted that they are “milking cows 365 days a year, but that means we’re also having babies (baby calves) every single day.” Her day-to-day roles on the farm include herd health and working with veterinarians, weekly herd checks, and managing the breeding and reproduction program.
Day-to-day operations can also mean flexing with logistical issues. “My dad graduated college in the 80s, and he came out trying to run ag, but he wasn’t able to secure a loan to buy land,” said Bellard, “so ever since I was a kid, we’ve been nomadic kind of ranchers. We lease land and try to get long-term leases to put our cattle on, and if that doesn’t work out, we have to move them.” Without access to secure land, she doesn’t have access to secure sales for beef. “So I work.”
In the area of sustainability, Fender asked the panelists what they each do on their different operations. “I think all of us up here as cattle producers have the best sustainability story anywhere,” said Helsel. “Cattle are the ultimate up-cyclers. They take an inedible (to humans) grass and turn it into beef…the best protein you can eat.”
What cattle are fed can be another part of the sustainability story, Fender noted. Her San Diego ranch has an arrangement with a craft brewery in Del Mar where the spent distiller’s grains that would just be a waste product are fed to her cattle on the ranch. Because cattle are ruminant animals, they can digest things humans can’t. “We’re able to upcycle that material into a higher protein product, and that brewer doesn’t have to go find a dump to go put it somewhere. It’s a great way to help each other out. The brewers call it ‘Brew to Moo.’” Cattle in California eat a number of agricultural byproducts that would otherwise go to a landfill, such as almond hulls, citrus peels and cotton seeds.
On the dairy side, Morris notes they utilize the National Dairy FARM program which evaluates all of their practices and protocols. On the beef side, the Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) program certifies ranchers and their employees in correct animal handling and ensuring proper treatment of cattle throughout all aspects of their lives. “I do not stand for animal abuse. And we work with a licensed veterinarian, we work with a nutritionist. We have a leadership team that oversees all of our animals to make sure they’re properly cared for and handled right, because if the animal is not happy, the farmer is not happy,” Morris said.
“Let’s just hit on BQA really quick,” Fender said, noting this is new for the audience. “It’s called Beef Quality Assurance, and it’s essentially a certification program that’s optional, but most ranchers do it for themselves and their employees. It’s a really valuable program, and you have to get renewed every two years. It’s a full class about animal welfare and how to take care of your cattle the best way that you can.”
Panelists also discussed challenges in the industry, from drought and reliance on rainfall, to misperceptions about who they are and what they do as beef and dairy producers. But they also zeroed in on the positive side of more people being interested in buying from local ranchers and really getting to know where their food comes from. Bellard noted that if people want to buy from a local rancher, that rancher needs land to provide that food source.
“We have land that’s being used for development…we have land being used for parks and recreation…we have people moving to the spaces not understanding what the cow poop smells like or what the flies are doing there…it’s a nuisance to them.” But these animals need room to roam, and that land is also a food source for animals other than cattle, she added.
In addition to the FarmHER and RancHER panel event, tour attendees visited a cow-calf ranch, dairy, calf ranch, feedyard and beef processing facility. “Unlike other agricultural commodities, the beef supply chain is both complex and segmented,” Van Egmond said. “Tours like this allow the people who make foodservice purchasing decisions to see firsthand and better understand how all the segments of the beef supply chain work together in a way that supports the welfare of our cattle, provides open spaces and wildlife habitat, and focuses on continuously improving environmental sustainability, all while producing a delicious, nutritious protein choice.”
CBC Pasture to Plate Beef Tours are free for California’s retail and foodservice attendees, requiring they cover only the cost of their own travel to and from the host hotel. Space for these events is limited. For more information about the Pasture to Plate Beef Tour, contact Christie Van Egmond at christie@calbeef.org. — CBC
