Latest / CattleUSA Daily / 76: 2 Anti-Beef Myths Debunked With Real Data and Truth

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76: 2 Anti-Beef Myths Debunked With Real Data and Truth · CattleUSA Daily

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  Welcome to the Cattle USA Daily podcast, your go to source for
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  the latest livestock markets, industry insights and the
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  updates shaping agriculture today.
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  I'm your host Lauren Moylan, a passionate advocate for
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  agriculture, here to keep you informed and connected.
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  Now let's dive into today's episode.
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  Happy Wednesday and welcome to another episode of the Cattle
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  USA Daily podcast. Today we are bringing back
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  another episode for you guys where we are going to be talking
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  about some common misconceptions within the cattle industry or
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  anti beef claims that we see producers, not producers, that
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  we see consumers or anti beef organizations pushing to our
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  consumer population and therefore to our producers as
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  well. And how you guys as producers
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  can not only come here and get a little bit of knowledge, but
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  also sit here and be able to then share these facts and
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  continue to bring a producer population that is then informed
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  and then a consumer population that is informed, right?
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  Because we at the end of the day, want a consumer population
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  that is informed on the facts. And it is our job as producers
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  to understand these facts and be able to share them with these
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  consumers as well. Because I mean, if we don't
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  understand the facts ourselves, how can we expect our consumers
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  to? So we're going to dive right
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  into it with claim number one, plant based meat is more ethical
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  and better for the planet. Here's the reality of it, guys.
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  And I don't think I have to come on a beef cattle podcast and
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  tell you that beef is better than fake meat, right?
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  And I don't even like using the word fake meat.
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  I want to use the word fake slodge because scientifically
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  it's not me because it's just a chemistry set.
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  I digress. There's no better way really for
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  me to right now say anything other than fake meat.
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  So I'm going to say fake meat. But no, I really don't want to
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  say the word meat with that. But fake meat is marketed as a
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  guilt free planet friendly choice.
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  But it's actually just a manufactured product with a
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  manufactured message at the end of the day.
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  So here are the facts on ultra processed versus naturally
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  raised. The Impossible Burger has 21
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  ingredients, the Beyond Meat has eighteen ingredients and both
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  rely on lab derived additives, industrial oils and binders that
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  mimic meat. Real beef, last time I checked,
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  it's one ingredient. It's not clean eating if it
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  comes from a chemistry set, sorry, but it's not like how can
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  you sit here and say that I am making a healthier choice for
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  myself by eating a meat alternative when it's got way
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  more ingredients and it's got all of those lab Dr. additives,
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  industrial oils and binders in it that are not naturally
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  occurring. And our body and our bodies
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  don't know how to naturally process those.
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  So it's not clean eating. And you can't change my mind any
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  way, shape or form. So let's go into a little bit
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  more of the facts of this claim. Here's the planet truth.
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  So going away from my soapbox of the differences between the two,
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  here's the truth about the planet.
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  Fake meat production uses extremely high energy inputs.
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  It has long supply chains and requires CO2 intensive
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  factories. A UC Davis study actually found
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  that plant based meat can emit similar levels of GH GS per
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  serving as traditional beef and in some cases more depending on
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  the ingredients that it is using.
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  So they have no stance here to stand on that.
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  They are being more ethical for the planet.
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  At the end of the day, fake meat doesn't remove the cow, it just
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  replaced it with a factory. Now let's dive right into claim
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  number 2. Raising cattle is inefficient
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  and it wastes resources. We talked a little bit on this
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  last week, but I want to bring it up again in a different
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  context because this is a claim that is saying that we are being
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  inefficient with our resources at the end of the day.
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  So this claim hinges on one assumption and that is that
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  cattle compete with humans for food and land and that is
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  completely false. Here are the facts of it.
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  Cattle are upcycling, not competing.
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  Cattle eat what we can't. They eat things like corn
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  stalks, distiller grain, cotton seed holes, native grasses, and
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  at the end of the day, 90% plus of a beef animal's diet is
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  inedible to humans. And OK, let's dive into the land
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  use, right? Because we talked about what
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  they're eating, but let's dive into where they're at. 2/3 of US
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  grazing land is non arable, meaning you can't grow crops on
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  it. So what else are we supposed to
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  put there? Making cattle graze that land is
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  the most optimal choice and actually the best use of our
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  resources. We can't just remove cattle and
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  that would actually become extremely unproductive for that
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  land. And then we would have massive
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  issues with over forestation or all of the other things that
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  would happen if we weren't taking care of that land and
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  cattle weren't grazing it how it was naturally supposed to be
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  grazed. Cattle make use of marginal land
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  that otherwise would pretty well feed no one.
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  Now let's dive into water. The 1800 gallons of water per
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  pound of beef number that activists love to throw out
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  there, that includes rainwater that falls on grass.
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  That is so important to remember that if you see that number and
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  they're like, it's scientifically proven that
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  numbers including rainwater, actual water consumption,
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  drinking and irrigation use is only about 3 to 5% of that
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  number. Now let's drive into efficiency
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  gains. The thing is, over the past 30
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  plus years, actually like 50 years since the 1970s, How many
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  years has that been? Like 55 years?
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  US beef producers have cut land use, water use, and emissions
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  per pound of beef by over 30%. The reality of it is guys, is we
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  are continuing to be better and better every single day.
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  Today's beef is more sustainable than ever and consistently
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  improving. Cattle turn sunlight and waste
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  into a steak and you know what? I think that that is a pretty
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  good use of our resources and a really awesome way to just
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  reframe it. The cattle are turning these
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  amazing things that we cannot consume into a delicious steak
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  that if, if I do say so myself, just lights my soul on fire.
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  Beef doesn't waste land, it makes land useful.
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  And we don't need fewer cattle. We just need more understanding
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  from our consumer population. And it starts with us.
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  It starts with us as producers being an informed producer
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  population that is then able to produce a informed consumer
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  population. It is up to us to raise our
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  voices, share about these things, lead with the facts, but
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  also lead with your story on every single one of these.
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  It is so important that we get out there and that we are
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  informed and that we continue to stand up for agriculture.
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  If raising cattle is inefficient, then explain how we
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  feed millions using nothing but grass and byproducts.
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  At the end of the day, guys, it is up to us to continue to share
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  this story. Thank you guys so much for
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  listening to another episode of the Cattle USA Daily Podcast.
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  Make sure you like subscribe, rate, review, do all of the
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  things. And I'm going to give you guys a
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  homework assignment. And I really, really want you to
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  go out there and continue to either dive more into these two
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  claims and the facts that I gave you, equip yourself with some
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  more facts, or open up that notes app and you're going to
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  jot down a few of the things that you learned today, some of
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  those facts. That way when you have these
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  conversations, you are equipped and ready, or I want you to go
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  out there and start talking to consumers and sharing the beef
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  story about your life as a producer and then also about the
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  beef facts. As always, I hope you guys have
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  a great rest of your Wednesday and we'll talk to you tomorrow
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  on another episode. Have a good one y'all.