The Co-op Food Stores of New Hampshire and Vermont

added 10/23/09

Our personal health and the health of our planet are critical components of our well-being. Decisions made in the Co-op aisles can have lasting effects on both. From packaging to production, ingredients to meal planning, food choices are an everyday way to make a change for the better. Through this series, “Healthy People, Healthy Planet,” Co-op Dietitian Mary Choate and Sustainability Coordinator Emily Neuman offer their insights on how to choose wisely, for personal and planetary health, as you shop for food. Drawing upon the latest science, common sense, and practical experience, they hope to bring some clarity to the often-challenging subject of “what to eat.”

by Emily Neuman
Co-op Sustainability Coordinator

According to the University of Vermont’s Center for Sustainable Agriculture, a growing number of Vermont farmers—both dairy and meat-producing—are transitioning to grass-based feeding. Reduced equipment and fuel costs, healthier animals, and opportunities for niche marketing are some of the attractions.

Consumers, too, are showing a growing interest in grass-fed meat. But 100 percent grass-fed meat costs significantly more money than its conventional counterpart, and it’s not unusual for a consumer to wonder, “Is it really worth paying more?”

The answer lies in what kind of agricultural system the consumer wants to support. Most U.S. beef today is raised in the Midwest. Although beef cows may be grazed in the early part of their life, most finish their growth on a feedlot ration of grains. Conventional livestock production is responsible for forty percent of U.S. pesticide use on grain crops and a third of all nitrogen and phosphorus loads in freshwater resources.

In contrast, grass farmers use rotational grazing and permanent pastures for the primary feeding of their livestock. Cows on rotationally grazed farms are moved from pasture to pasture and self-harvest their feed. Grass-based farms consume less fossil fuel and cause less soil erosion than grain-based operations.

Grass-based farming can also be restorative. Replacing row crops with permanent pasture means building soil rather than losing it, and it allows native grasses and wildlife to co-exist with agricultural species on farms. Farmers who switch from row-crops to grass-farming reduce their use of pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic fertilizer and, by spreading animals out over the landscape, eliminate surface and groundwater contamination due to manure spills.

In the last three years, the International Panel on Climate Change, the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have all identified animal agriculture as a significant contributor to climate change. Internationally, livestock production is responsible for three primary sources of greenhouse gas emissions: deforestation, the use of synthetic fertilizer on row crops, and emissions from the animals themselves.

The American Meat Institute argues that deforestation does not apply to American meat because American farmers are, by and large, not cutting trees to create pasture. That is true; America plowed its prairies and cleared its forests more than 200 years ago during European settlement. Americans were early contributors to climate change from a land-use perspective. Domestic agricultural greenhouse gases now come mostly from the animals themselves, manure lagoons, and nitrogen fertilizer.

Farmers are hopeful that revisions to a cow’s diet may successfully reduce enteric methane emissions. Preliminary results from 15 dairy farms in Vermont suggest that these emissions can be reduced 18 percent by substituting alfalfa and flax for corn and soy in a dairy cow’s diet.

While feed changes appear to hold promise, a shift toward rotational grazing and fewer animals is a sure way to lower emissions. In a 2008 study at Carnegie Mellon, researchers concluded that meat is 150 percent more greenhouse gas intensive than any other food. For the average American, shifting less than one day per week’s consumption of conventional meat and/or dairy to other foods could have the same climate impact as buying all household food from local sources.

For the concerned consumer, switching to 100 percent grass-fed local meats may require eating less meat overall due to the cost. The evidence to date shows that could be a win-win situation for our personal and environmental health.

Out to Pasture

Ruminants, such as cows and sheep, can subsist exclusively on pasture grasses. Pigs and chickens may also be pastured, but they require a greater variety of foods than ruminants. Although the animals may find fruit, nuts, legumes, and insects on pasture to supplement the forage, farmers typically offer grain supplements as well. For this reason “grass-finished” or “100% grass-fed” are typically applied to beef only. Pigs or chickens raised on grass are more often referred to as “pastured” rather than grass-fed.

What Do You Think?

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