Coming Up at Carving Our Niche: Technicalities of Grass Fed Beef
Posted: February 6, 2014
Categories: Events / Food in the News / GoodFoodBites / News from Sustain Ontario
The Carving Our Niche: Growing the Grass Fed Beef Market conference is quickly approaching on February 24th. (Earlybird registration ends February 14th!) Leading up to the conference, you can learn more about the program as we put each of the sessions and speakers in the spotlight. After the keynote address “Framing the Conversation” from Dr. Allen Williams, the first session of the day will focus on the Technicalities of Grass Fed Beef.
Since the late 1990s, a growing number of farmers have been feeding their animals exclusively on forage instead of grain- and soy-based diets. This growing trend has invited debate and discussion about the merits of this niche production method, covering topics including environmental stewardship, animal welfare, and nutritional profiles of the beef.
Though its market share is smaller than its grain fed counterpart, the grass fed trend is gaining momentum in Ontario. Those who produce or consume grass fed beef often reference benefits such as an improvement in animal welfare and stress levels, as the animals are able to express their natural habits and graze outside in their familial groups. Many farmers believe this reduction of stress contributes to the unique, and some say beefier, flavour of grass fed beef. Others tout grass fed beef as more nutritional than its grain-fed counterparts; higher in many vitamins and higher concentrations of the often sought after omega-3 fatty acids.
Harry Stoddart. Image from Food Tank article: “Sustainable” Agriculture: often debated, rarely understood.”
Choosing your food based on environmental merits is not always clear. Ontario grass fed beef farmer and conference speaker Harry Stoddart writes about the nuances of understanding the capacity of natural ecosystems in a recent Food Tank article: “There is also no specific food choice that guarantees you a positive impact on the planet. Beef cattle are often disparaged as a climate destroying luxury we can no longer afford. However, 100 percent grass-fed cattle spend their lives munching on diverse perennial pastures that are not tilled, generally rain fed and the majority of nutrients are recycled in place. Soil can build under a well-managed pasture. Yet, Arizona is an example of what happens when a pasture is poorly managed. Over grazing of cattle destroyed a brittle ecosystem – both the carbon cycle and the water cycle were destroyed in the blink of eye.”
But this way of raising beef cattle is not without its challenges felt across the value chain. How are farmers to provide enough forage during our cold, Canadian winters? Where can a broad, reliable market be accessed for this product, often seen as a luxury or specialty item? How will consumers know the best way to prepare this product? There are many opinions and ideas, and Carving Our Niche aims to bring these together to explore opportunities, challenges, and potential solutions in the grass fed beef market in Ontario.
A conversation about grass fed beef should start with production. Though the program for the Carving Our Niche conference is not focused primarily on production processes, from 11am to 12:15pm the conversation will be centred on grass fed beef production. In exploring topics like audits with Jim Whitehouse, breed selection with Harry Stoddart, and environmental benefits with Henry Bakker, our hope is that those in attendance will have the opportunity to touch on some important production challenges and opportunities, and recognize areas that require further exploration and discussion.
The speakers who will help to guide this technical discussion are:
- Henry Bakker, Field Sparrow Farms
- Harry Stoddart, Stoddart Family Farm
- Dr. Allen Williams from Livestock Management Consultants, LLC
- Jim Whitehouse, Grand Valley Fortifiers
- Jack Kyle, OMAF and Profitable Pastures
Visit the Carving Our Niche website for more information about the conference program, speakers, and online registration.
Jump to online registration.