Re:The Myth of Regenerative Ranching
by EdwardDiego on Tuesday October 05, 2021 @03:00AM
(#28756288)
Note: Article is specific to the USA and other countries with large grasslands and native grazing animals.
In New Zealand, all our beef is grass fed, in fact, we've never made the distinction between grass fed and not.
Our colonial ancestors spent a lot of time burning tussocklands and clearing native bush, so we have a lot of pasture. (Just under 40% of our land is used for agriculture).
We luckily got the idea that maybe we should think about preserving what wilderness was left in the 1890s, and it went from there, our most recent national park was created in 2002 (national parks are the most protected areas, no dogs, until recently no smallbore hunting, then there's forest parks, conservation areas etc. with lesser protections but still not being farmed), and some formerly grazed marginal land have been returned to the conservation estate (e.g., Korowai Torlesse Tussocklands Park).
But most of our soils aren't suitable for growing crops, so growing corn in the <2% of our land that's arable, to feed cows, when we have so much land that can grow grass, and that's about it, has never made economic sense.
(Although the usage of supplementary feeding by dairy farmers is another kettle of fish...)
Oh, and our endemic grazers (some species of moa) were hunted to extinction by the 15th century.
TL;DR - our grass fed beef and lamb might be far more ethical, please encourage your Congress to actually engage in free trade and drop protectionist subsidies and tariffs - nah just kidding, I know that's never going to happen.
In New Zealand, all our beef is grass fed, in fact, we've never made the distinction between grass fed and not.
Our colonial ancestors spent a lot of time burning tussocklands and clearing native bush, so we have a lot of pasture. (Just under 40% of our land is used for agriculture).
We luckily got the idea that maybe we should think about preserving what wilderness was left in the 1890s, and it went from there, our most recent national park was created in 2002 (national parks are the most protected areas, no dogs, until recently no smallbore hunting, then there's forest parks, conservation areas etc. with lesser protections but still not being farmed), and some formerly grazed marginal land have been returned to the conservation estate (e.g., Korowai Torlesse Tussocklands Park).
But most of our soils aren't suitable for growing crops, so growing corn in the <2% of our land that's arable, to feed cows, when we have so much land that can grow grass, and that's about it, has never made economic sense.
(Although the usage of supplementary feeding by dairy farmers is another kettle of fish...)
Oh, and our endemic grazers (some species of moa) were hunted to extinction by the 15th century.
TL;DR - our grass fed beef and lamb might be far more ethical, please encourage your Congress to actually engage in free trade and drop protectionist subsidies and tariffs - nah just kidding, I know that's never going to happen.