MOBeef Update

SURVEY: AMERICA’S CATTLE FARMERS, RANCHERS SUPPORT WILDLIFE, ECOSYSTEMS

New survey data show that America’s cattle farmers and ranchers are raising a lot more than just cattle on their ranches. From endangered species to native trees and grasses, America’s farms and ranches are hosting, and often actively supporting, wildlife, natural ecosystems and the environment.

Eighty-eight percent of cattle farmers and ranchers surveyed said their land includes areas that support wildlife. More than half report wildlife populations on their land have increased in the past 10 years. That’s important, because approximately 73 percent of land in the U.S. is privately owned, and the majority of the country’s natural wildlife habitats are found on those lands, according to information cited by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Nationally, rangelands and pastures currently provide food and habitat for many types of wildlife, including deer, pronghorn antelope, elk and prairie chickens. During the past several years, 46,000 acres of private land, mostly on working farms and ranches, were re-established to benefit the grizzly bear, and approximately 120,000 acres of similar private lands were restored to benefit the bald eagle. In fact, in the Eastern and Central United States, wildlife is almost entirely dependent on ranch, farm and other private lands. And because 85 percent of U.S. grazing lands are unsuitable for producing crops, grazing animals more than doubles the area that can be used to produce food.

In my opinion, no one is more passionate about the environment than Missouri’s cattlemen and cattle women working to increase the quality of their grass and water, for both their cattle and the fish and wildlife that call their operations home. These private landowners love the land and have a strong environmental stewardship ethic that they pass on from generation to generation.

The survey results show how beef production helps preserve the environment for future generations by protecting and restoring wildlife habitats, maintaining hundreds of miles of rivers and streams and sustaining millions of acres of open space. When consumers practice “sustainable consumption,” – choosing foods like beef that are produced in ways that conserve and actually enhance the Earth’s land, water, air, wildlife habitat and other natural resources — they demonstrate a commitment to the health of the planet.

The survey was conducted during telephone interviews with 750 commercial cattle farmers and ranchers. The margin of error is +/- 3.6 percent.