In an article published in Cornell University’s newspaper, The Cornell Daily Sun, sophomore staff writer Kyle Roth begins his op-ed titled “Meatless ‘Meat’: Animal-Free Eating at Cornell” with this: “It is no secret that consuming various animal proteins comes with many costs related to morals, nutrition, the environment, production ethics and economics. With animal-based meat being widely available and accessible at virtually every restaurant and grocery store along with being deeply ingrained into American and international cultures, the issue of transitioning away from animal products and looking towards alternatives is not as steak-and-potatoes as it may seem.
“Fortunately, meat-alternative proteins are becoming the norm in our grocery stores and fast-food establishments, and they’re only growing in popularity as tasty, affordable, ‘guilt-free’ substitutions to animals.”
The article goes on to talk about three various forms of meat alternatives and gives a quick sales pitch on each, but the article never says where exactly the alternatives are available, their prices or how they compare nutritionally to actual meat. It also never goes into the ingredients or ramifications that meatless products have on the environment.
Cornell is listed on U.S. News’ list of best colleges as the 17th best national university. The irony here is so thick, but it’s the naivety that is saddening. The article is agenda-based journalism, which contains zero facts backed by zero science and is published as news. Granted, he’s speaking to his audience, and I’m speaking to mine, but I’ll use facts and figures and arm our readership with some stats.
The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) recently held their annual conference in Oklahoma City, OK. During the conference, there were several takeaways, but the biggest summation is that American meat producers—and not just beef producers—are collectively hitting environmental, nutritional and sustainable targets.
Keynote speaker Randy Blach, CEO of CattleFax, said, “The U.S. is the largest high-quality meat producer on the planet. We produce the most beef, the most broiler meat and the third-largest amount of pork in the world.” He then went on to compliment the corn and soybean producers for their inputs on our production system and for helping our animals quickly and efficiently convert the corn and soybeans into meat.
He added that the U.S. achieved record beef production in 2022 with 30 million fewer cattle than in the 1970s.
This information is so valuable as we see record export values and demand and double-digit growth in several countries, even with a decreasing national cow herd. We are looking at a 37% reduction from just a few years ago. This drought has been brutal.
Blach continued, “Whenever I ask an audience ‘Who’s the biggest beef producer in the world?’ everyone says Brazil because it has 300 million cattle, but we’re producing more beef than Brazil with only one-third the number of cattle. The U.S. has the best carbon footprint of anybody on the list of top beef producers because of the way our production systems work and the amount of production that we get on a per-head basis.
“That’s what sustainability is—doing more with less and doing it better with great animal husbandry,” Blach said. Well stated, Mr. Blach.
When I looked up the nutritional facts of a meat substitute burger, a direct label comparison shows an 80% increase in sodium if you consume the fake product versus actual beef. What health risks are associated with high sodium intake? High blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. Conversely, what have anti-meat advocates used as their talking points against the health of meat? High blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. Odd.
No business can sustain itself without revenue or profits. Our industry is shifting its margins across different sectors, and we are already seeing packers’ margins being shifted over to the feeders, and we’re seeing the early shift of higher revenue being shifted over to the cow-calf sector. It won’t be long before the highest margins are back in the cow-calf sector. It’s simply the cycle and swing based on supply and demand economics. But make no mistake, there is enough demand for pure beef across the globe to drive economic incentives in all phases of our industry at the same time.
We cannot say the same thing for Beyond Meat. I wrote about their stock price in my column last month, but as the USMEF conference was going on, Beyond Meat simultaneously released their earnings report, which reported “wider-than-expected losses.” It also announced a 19% reduction in its workforce amid a 22.5% net sales drop and 11.2% net revenue per pound decrease. This all fueled a third quarter net loss of $101.7 million. In terms of sustainability, this isn’t it. — LOGAN IPSEN
