Kentucky Beef Council Celebrates Earth Day
April 22, 2008!
Earth Day Environment Fact Sheet
Every day is “Earth Day” for U.S. beef producers
Louisville, Ky… U.S. beef producers observe Earth Day every day by helping preserve a healthy, safe, clean and sustainable environment for food production and for use by future generations. Both livelihood and a love of nature bind America’s 800,000 beef producers to the land.
Kentucky’s 40,000 beef producers are part of the beef industry, the largest segment of American agriculture. There are approximately 2.46 million head of cattle in the state. Kentucky has had four beef producing families recognized as national or regional winners in an annual environmental stewardship award, sponsored in part by the USDA Natural Conservation Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, since 1991.
Beef producers’ workplaces extend over fields and valleys, across rivers, up mountains and onto the plains. So caring responsibility for the natural resources that surround them gives cattlemen the most productive “office space” possible. Most beef producers are directly involved in resource management decisions, since 95 percent of U.S. farms are run in full or in part by the property owner, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“A healthy environment contributes to business profitability and our overall lifestyles, since many of us live and work on our land,” said Alison Smith, director of consumer affairs for the Kentucky Beef Council. “We see everyday how a sustainable environment and good business go hand-in-hand.”
Another “healthy” aspect of the sustainable beef production story involves grazing cattle on U.S. grazing lands, about 85 percent of which are unsuitable for crops. Running cattle on these lands contributes to the ecosystem by converting forages humans can’t eat into a nutrient-rich food humans can eat.
As the largest cattle producing state east of the Mississippi River, Kentucky is home to over 1.1 million beef cows with a total cattle inventory of over 2.46 million head. Cattle producers generated over $607 million dollars in cash sale receipts in 2006. The important thing to remember about the cash receipts from cattle is that these dollars stay in Kentucky to support Kentucky’s economy.
The Beef Checkoff was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle. In addition to a comparable assessment imported beef and beef products. States retain 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.