Integrity Beef Alliance Legacy Program Poised to Lead Cattle Industry Toward Carbon Neutral Beef
September 24, 2022
DENVER, CO September 24, 2022 — The Integrity Beef Alliance and partner organizations are honored to announce the award of a $30 million grant from the USDA Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities to lead efforts for the transition of the U.S. beef industry towards carbon-neutral beef production. This effort will highlight the launch of the new Integrity Beef Legacy program on a national scale.
The Integrity Beef Alliance has a 20-plus year proven track record of being an award-winning beef industry leader. The 100 percent producer-led and producer-developed Integrity Beef Legacy program began more than four years ago. The Integrity Beef Board of Directors and membership considered strategies to overcome new challenges within the industry regarding producer profitability, grazing land stewardship and conservation, animal health and well-being, market transparency, consumer demand, and beef’s role in climate-smart solutions and national food security.
The Legacy program centers itself squarely on two primary pillars: The Principles of Soil Health and the six U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef indicators. By focusing the Legacy program on land stewardship principles, the program will poise members to take advantage of multiple benefits to their operation. Benefits include increased climate resilience in times of unprecedented drought and floods; potential reduction of operational costs; improved animal husbandry practices; and market differentiation within the industry, which will lead to higher market-based producer premiums and consumer demand for our unique beef product.
“When developing the Legacy program, we knew that a producer-driven, principle-based program, (rather than a top-down,) practice-based program would allow ranchers the flexibility to make their own decisions on how to achieve land stewardship goals,” stated Robert Wells, Ph.D. Executive Director. Context is important, and this program is designed to empower the rancher, not hinder them.”
As awareness and interest in the Legacy Program grew, Integrity Beef formed partnerships with several organizations, each having distinct and uniquely valuable roles to play in the success of this exciting venture.
One of the partnerships is with Legacy Verified, LLC., who will be the external, third-party auditor company to provide nationwide verification services to the Integrity Beef Legacy program. Having this layer of outside oversight will provide assurances to our industry partners and the consumer that our member producers are, indeed, providing climate smart or low carbon beef to the consumer.
“The goal of this program is to create a movement within the beef industry as a major solution to the climate challenges of our time,” said Meredith Ellis, Integrity Beef Board Member, Producer Member, “allowing the consumer a choice in climate-smart, carbon-neutral beef at their local grocery store or farmer’s market, and to empower the rancher, both financially and in terms of grazing land health for generations to come.”
Source: National Pork Producers Council
