A City-Girl’s View of Beef ProductionCassie Payne

Where does my

food come from?

Family Health: Cancer High Cholesterol Heart attack/triple

bypass Alzheimer’s disease

Pursuit of health and stewardship: Vanderbilt University Pre-Med/Vet track

Study Abroad: Spain Outdoor market culture Limited resources,

crowding BA in Spanish & Child Development

New York City, 2006-2009 Work: Public high school teacher Career-change catalysts:

Peers: publishing, journalism, dining, finance Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture Popular literature & Films

Seeking the story of my food, my health, my life

People want a face

People want a story

People want a face

People want a relationship

People want a story:

If food can make me live, grow, stay healthy, or get sick, what is my food’s story? 98% of Americans: 3+ generations removed

from farming

The least understood suspect = easiest targetFood producers (2% of Americans)

blamed for: CancerCancer

Heart diseaseHeart disease

ObesityObesity

DiabetesDiabetes

Two types:1.Put aside personal agenda for truth2.Put aside truth for personal agenda

What is truth?

“TIME is trying to say, rather than do a story where you do 50 percent on one side and 50 percent on another, you allow the writer to look at it and make some of his own judgments”

~Bryan Walsh, TIME Magazine

AgriTalk, Sept. 1, 2009

I subscribed to the points of view displayed in The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan:

“It must be recognized that the current food system — characterized by monocultures of corn and soy in the field and cheap calories of fat, sugar and feedlot meat on the table — is not simply the product of the free market. Rather, it is the product of a specific set of government policies that sponsored a shift from solar (and human) energy on the farm to fossil-fuel energy” – (New York Times, 2008)

…and Food, Inc.“Companies changed how we eat, how we

make our food….[it is] a world deliberately hidden from us” (Eric Schlausser, Food, Inc.)

Excerpts from my application to : “Consumers should know that they

are what they eat and they are what they eat eats…”

“Grass-finished beef is a healthier product than grain-finished beef”

“Farms have betrayed their natural design by becoming

isolated monocultures…”

Is conventional beef an eco-friendly, healthy, and sanitary food product?

Is grass-fed or grain-fed beef better for me?

When I eat beef, am I consuming the hormones and antibiotics that the animal consumed?

Should I only eat locally-produced food?

Lesson #1: Efficient = Eco-Lesson #1: Efficient = Eco-FriendlyFriendly

Is conventional beef eco-friendly?

VSVS

ConventionalTIMELINE12-14 months: Feedlot, concentrate diet16-20 months: Harvest

RATIONALE•Reduced labor•Increased efficiency•Consistency in:

•Taste•Quality Grade•Marketability

Grass-FedTIMELINE12-24 months: Improved pasture24-30 months: Harvest

RATIONALE•Increased self-sufficiency•Direct marketing•Artisanal products

• Land Use ComparisonConventional

Economically justifies

75%

of wildlife habitat

Grass-FinishingWould require

60 million additional acres

under cultivation(Capper et al., 2009)

What do they have in common?

Sustainability IS a goal! Now using 30% less land; 13% less cattle, 20%

less feed, than 1977 (Dr. Jude Capper, WSU 2010)

VS

Conventional Beef Grass-Fed Beef

Is conventional beef a healthy food? Is grass-fed better?

Different health benefits of conventional, grass-fed:

BOTH offer the same essential nutrients BOTH types: produce at least 29 cuts of lean

meat

CONVENTIONAL: MUFA (Leat, 1978)

HDL without affecting LDL (Adams et al., 2010; Gilmore et al.,

2011)

GRASS-FED: PUFA (Ω-3,

CLA) (significant amounts?) (Williams et al., 1983; Knight et

al., 1996) Vit. A, E(French et al., 2000, Wood et al.,

2003)

Total fat(Leheska et al., 2008)

(Leheska et al., 2008)

3 ounces lean beef

180 calories

Three ½ cup servings black beans 374 calories

1 ¼ cups raw tofu

236 calories

7 tablespoonspeanut butter

670 calories

Calories per 25 g Protein

(Leheska et al., 2008)

(Gilmore et al., 2011; courtesy of Dr. Steve Smith, TAMU )

(Grain: Leheska et al., 2008; Grass: courtesy of Dr. Steve Smith, TAMU)

(courtesy of Dr. Steve Smith, TAMU)

= 0.41

n-3:n-6 = 0.10

(Leheska et al., 2008)

= 1.10 - 1.31(conventional)

(Adams et al., 2010; Gilmore et al., 2011)

Why are hormones and antibiotics used in my food? Can’t they hurt me? Synthetic Hormones

Improve efficiency by 20% Instantly metabolized into lean muscle Levels insignificantly different than non-

implanted cattle Subtherapeutic Antibiotics

Ionophores & Tylosin,“non-therapeutic” to increase efficiency by 10-17% and reduce methane emissions(Wileman et al., 2009;

Mode of action (Trenkle, 1997)

Upregulation of lean tissue development Hormone GHRH GH IGF Muscle

Downregulation of AA turnover (Borohov et al., 1987; Dawson et al., 1988)

Degradation Equilibrium

No effect on human health (Meta-analysis: Taylor et al, 2009)

Androgen circulation higher for vegetarians than non-vegetarians (Armstrong et al., 1981; Thomas et al.,

1999) “Natural” beef: 0.16 ppb (ng/g) Conventional beef: 0.22 ppb Eggs (35 ppb) Milk (0.12) Soy flour (1,510,000 ppb) Female (5,000,000 ng/d) Male (100,000, ng/d)

(Preston, 1997)

Precocious development & Insulin Glucose Insulin GnRH LH & FSH

Estrogen (Poretsky et al., 1999; Ultrianen et al., 2009; Rosenfield et al., 2009)

Mode of action: Lasalosid, Rumensin

Kills gram positive bacteria in rumen Reduce bloat, coccidiosis, methane emission Increase efficient microbes

Tylosin (Metaphlaxis) Kills gram positive bacteria and prevents respiratory

diseases Threat of resistance:

Ionophores not in human medicine Tylosin not used in therapeutic medicine Same incidence of resistant bacteria in

conventional and “natural” systems (XXX, XXX)

Should food be grown in monocultures and transported OR in polycultures for local consumption?

Modern systems: Mitigate risks from weather and blight Local, grass-finished beef not feasible in

drought or dry climates Improve transport efficiency per unit of food

Capper et al., 2009

If it takes 5 kCal feed to produce 1 kCal meat, should we make livestock compete with the human food supply by feeding them grain? Consumption of coproducts:

Nutritious waste high quality food

Is food production deliberately hidden from consumers by a few big companies? Are agricultural animals treated respectfully?

I SAW that feedlots are efficient, humane, and sanitary ways

to produce beef…

Visitation encouraged!

The science behind modern methods of food production justified much of today’s agricultural practices for its economic, environmental, and social sustainability.

I credit the beef industry for its environmental stewardship in the production of healthful foods.

Food production is inherently personal and ethical, and therefore controversial What perpetuates the accusations?

98% of Americans are disconnected from agriculture: unequal powers, unequally distributed

62% of Americans own pets, view animals this way

Consequences: Food outsourcing

California’s Proposition 2, 2008

“Junk” Science championed 1998 UNREPLICATED, unpublished

study hidden in Cornell publication

Ryan Andrews: vegan nutritionist, Ryan Andrews: vegan nutritionist, Precision Precision NutritionNutrition::

“And, I have to say it. If my experience at Magnum is representative of other cattle farms, all those accounts of the dismal, depressing, disastrous cattle conditions seem to be exaggerated.”

The exaggerations of Eric Schlausser and Michael Pollan may be exposed by their own followers if they entice people like me to find out the truth for themselves.

GET EQUIPPED: Apply:

http://www.beef.org/mba Online training (6 hrs) In-person training

session & “commencement”

MBA Alumni Association

Where is your food coming from?