The grass-fed is always greener

© US Department of Agriculture Where the buffalo roam, the prairie thrives.

Amidst the controversies over mad cow disease and the popular fast food exposé Super Size Me, the CEC commissioned a study to find out how carnivorous North Americans feel about their food. But the real meat of the survey was to see if our eating habits might actually help preserve the threatened prairie grasslands.

"How do you conserve that area?" asks Chantal Line Carpentier, head of the CEC's Environment, Economy and Trade program. "The main way they found is to go back to the prairies' original use, which was bison or extensive cattle grazing."

Click to enlarge

Restoring these animals to the plains would make a huge impact in conserving the biodiversity of the grasslands, since bison grazing habits helped create and maintain them in the first place by keeping the grass clipped short for other prairie wildlife and naturally fertilizing the land. However, the additional cost of raising and selling grass-fed cattle and bison over intensive livestock production has dissuaded widespread use of this practice by livestock farmers.

Rather than enforcing change through government legislation, Carpentier's program seeks to disprove the notion that trade is inherently bad for the environment by nudging the market towards more ecologically-sound practices. If aware consumers begin eating more grass-fed or organic meats—organic also requires animals to graze as opposed to be confined and being grain-fed—then it will become worthwhile for farmers to alter their practices, thereby earning a living while helping to conserve the grasslands.

"We need to know whether a market-based mechanism can be a way to help protect these areas. We have to know if the North American public is aware of grass-fed bison and cattle and if they would be willing to pay a premium for it because that meat costs twice as much on the market right now."

The study learned that North American consumers do keep somewhat informed about their foods, with half of the respondents reading ingredient labels, six in ten looking out for new products and about the same percentage citing environmental concerns affecting their purchases—albeit with Mexicans (71 percent) far more concerned than (53 percent) who are also the least likely to care about the origins of their food products.

The crux of the survey, however, was to measure consumer attitudes towards more environmentally friendly meats such as organic and grass-fed cattle and specialty meats such as bison.

"Across all three markets meat consumption is similar," explains Jocelyn Lauzon from CROP, the market research firm that conducted the study, citing nine out of ten households as meat-eating.

"Habits don't vary too much but when it comes to specialty meats Mexicans aren't as aware of those types of products as Canadians and Americans. Also, when it comes to organic products and grass-fed meats, Canadians and Americans are more aware than Mexicans. However, Mexicans would be more inclined to purchase meats produced ecologically. That surprised me because they're not as aware of practices as they are in the US and Canada, but they are much more willing. They seem to discern the difference between industrial agriculture and ecological agriculture."

A major focus of the report was on bison meat, given the massive herds that once roamed the prairies. The vast majority of Americans are aware of the bison option—though only a quarter of that 90 percent actually consume it—compared to 63 percent of Canadians and a mere six percent of Mexicans.

"I always tell my clients to compare Ferrari to Chevrolet. There's nothing wrong with Chevrolet. General Motors sold 17 million cars last year and Ferrari probably sold 300," says Quebec bison farmer Jacques Seguin, "but if you buy a Ferrari you're buying a hell of a nice car."

He thinks the discrepancy between awareness and consumption is due to some poor quality non-organic and/or non-grass-fed bison meat from less-reputable farmers and marketing that slides bison beside beef when it is twice the price, rather than treating it as a specialty product.

"If you leave your herd of bison out in the pasture all the time it's better than putting cattle in a feedlot, which pollute a lot," he adds of the animal's environmental benefits. "I've got 70 bison on 75 acres and it's good for the land, you never have to seed again."

The once-plentiful beasts are now restricted to private ranches like Seguin's, a few native reservations and national parks. However, with environmentally-conscious media mogul Ted Turner moonlighting as a bison baron—he owns the world's largest private herd at 32,000 head on 14 ranches across seven states and promotes the meat through his Ted's Montana Grill restaurants—their dinner-plate presence can only increase.

Offering more protein than beef along with less fat and cholesterol, bison also appeals in an era where many health-conscious North Americans have begun questioning their burger habit. Though it does cost considerably more—as do organic and grass-fed cattle, both of which are leaner alternatives to hormone-produced or grain-fed beef—the survey revealed market potential with many consumers stating their willingness to spend more for organic and grass-fed meats, though less so for the later as it has yet to become a buzzword.

About a third of consumers would pay 25 percent more and even if only a small fraction were willing to spend twice as much—Mexicans were notably less thrifty than their continental compatriots—that still represents a significant portion of the North American population.

"What we have now is a snapshot so how do we move that forward? If it costs twice as much to produce, obviously the market is going to have to be worked out quite a bit to be able to use that as a tool," Carpentier says, citing such measures as financial incentives for extensive, rather than intensive, animal farming as well as consumer education.

"Just like in organic or shade-grown coffee, if you don't help people they don't make a distinction, they don't think about the impact of their consuming habits on the environment. If you do put more information out there—if you buy this meat you are going to save so many bird species, so many wild rabbit species or whatever—then people have an incentive to buy it more."