The USRSB event started on Tuesday, May 2nd with a tour hosted by Simplot. We visited three of their facilities: the Grand View Feedyard, the CSBeef Plant at Kuna, Idaho (a joint venture between Simplot and Caviness), and finally the Simplot French Fry plant in Caldwell, Idaho.
For those interested in the Circular Economy, this was an object lesson that was developed before the term Circular Economy existed. JR Simplot started out producing and processing potatoes, onions and other row crops and by the mid 1940s was the largest shipper of fresh potatoes in the country and supplied the military with millions of pounds of dehydrated onions and potatoes. Wartime shortages of fertiliser saw JR Simplot set up his own fertiliser plant in Idaho, as well.
The company developed the first commercially viable frozen French fries in the world, and is a leading producer of all types of frozen potato products today, as well as producing hundreds of other vegetable products. All of which produce a mountain of by-products, which, of course, JR and his company utilise in ways that turn a profit.
At the Grand View Feedyard, you can see 100,000 cattle being fed rations that include potato peels and other waste from the French fry plant. The cattle in the yard come from both Simplot’s own herds and from beef on dairy animals. In typical style, the company developed three pedigree herds for these, with Angus, Hereford and Charolais crossed to maintain heterosis in the cattle being fattened.
They also custom feed cattle. In order to maintain the cow-calf herds, the company grazes up to 4 million acres, including large areas and permits on federal lands throughout Idaho and Washington. We learned of some of the complications grazing federal land can bring, as these lands are mostly shared-use with hunters and other recreational pursuits.
The French fry plant is certainly impressive in scale and the innovations and technology that have been brought to bear on what probably seems, to most of us, as a pretty simple product. The plant is anything but simple, and seeing potatoes go from fresh and still soil covered to French fries through miles of pipes, colour and size sorting machines, peeling machines, cutters, blanching etc certainly gives you something to think about next time you sit down to a take away from your favourite food service outlet!
This was a very interesting glimpse into a diverse and innovative private company; it’s hard to do such an information packed tour justice in a brief email, but if you do ever have a chance to visit, I’m sure you would enjoy it.
On Wednesday, I joined Samantha Werth and Monica Hadarits (Executive Directors of USRSB and CRSB respectively) on a panel to talk about the collaboration between our Roundtable Network members, national and global. Increasingly, we find that there is a need to share the load when it comes to representing sustainable beef and to discuss communication approaches for different audiences, particularly those that relate to either national or global policy developments.
It strengthens our network tremendously to have such a large number of experts spread around the world on whom we can call. No matter what the field of expertise may be, we can almost always find the right people to help develop talking points and messaging. So Sam Werth co-chairs GRSB’s Climate Working Group with Brenna Grant from Canada, as well as other members of national roundtables, are involved in each of our Working Groups.
Later in the morning, there were three breakout sessions. I attended one on the human element of sustainability to help inspire me with some ideas for the Social Impact Working Group. Following lunch there was a follow up on the discussion started with Simplot during the tour on Public Lands and grazing management plans.
As the USRSB Goals involve a target of developing grazing management plans on 385 million acres of land by 2050, this discussion is an important piece informing how they can deliver on that goal.
I really enjoyed the discussion on the societal role of meat, moderated by Eric Mittenthal from NAMI, in the afternoon. Considerations around nutrition and malnutrition, land use, access to resources, efficiency and circular land use are critical to our understanding of sustainable food systems for the future.
All too often, these factors are glossed over in the global discussions about food systems, where the complexities are often reduced to a discussion of emissions per kg, which, as Jason Rowntree described during the panel, is a sad case of carbon tunnel vision.
The meeting continued with interesting sessions on Thursday on data and genetic tools, use of blockchain for value chain sustainability, and climate smart beef. All in all, it was an excellent opportunity to catch up with people and on the progress being made by USRSB. Thanks for having me!
Last week, I made a shorter trip to Palmerston North (on the North Island of New Zealand) to present at the Beef and Lamb New Zealand Beef Breeders forum.
Melissa Clark Reynolds gave a fascinating presentation looking at the factors that will influence sustainability in the future, and certainly for wealthier countries, there was quite an emphasis on public trust and the need for transparency and meeting consumer demands.
Dairy Beef has not taken off as quickly in New Zealand as in some other countries. There are several reasons, including the lack of a feedlot industry due to a shortage of volume markets for feed in the vicinity. It seems there should be some potential for the use of more dairy offspring in grass-based beef production.
This would potentially solve the two problems of bobby calf slaughter and high emissions from the beef cow-calf herd. We heard from Nick Sneddon and Natalia Martín on the research they have been doing into beef on dairy and it certainly looks like there is a value proposition there.
Thanks to Beef and Lamb NZ for the invitation to speak on how our Global work intersects with the work being done by institutions and members of NZRSB in New Zealand.
