Letter: America’s cattle ranchers will need a just transition

In Susannah Savage’s article “Record US beef prices prove mixed blessing
for ranchers” (Report, November 9), she reports the claims that this is the
worst dry spell for the western US in 1,200 years.

Unfortunately, droughts of this type are now alarmingly common due to climate change, with devastating impacts for ranchers and farmers.

Today it’s hard, if not impossible, to raise millions of cattle for meat with record low rainfall and rivers running dry. And regardless of its environmental and ethical impacts, the cattle industry will not be able to continue with the status quo — simply due to the constraints of climate change.

As the environmental constraints on meat production continue to rise, the urgency of a transition to sustainable plant proteins could not be clearer. Plant-based proteins use a fraction of the water, land and carbon budget compared with beef.

A recent report we did at Madre Brava, a science-based advocacy organisation working to reduce the role of meat in our food system, shows a 30 per cent reduction in beef consumption alone within key global markets would save 10 cubic kilometres of water — that is half of the annual discharge of the Colorado river.

If the water savings alone are not enough to compel a protein transition, perhaps the impact on millions of ranchers and farmers is. As producers are squeezed even tighter with the rising cost of feed and water, their livelihoods are put at risk.

The need for “just transitions” for farmers and ranchers could not be more evident. Big opportunities exist to bring these communities into plant-based protein supply chains, whether that’s to produce other sources of protein or to use their land as carbon sinks.

The experience in other sectors, which have begun decarbonising and adapting, tells us that a planned and guided transition is always better than an ad hoc, unmanaged process.

Sarah Lake
Executive Director and Co-founder
Madre Brava, Denver, CO, US