U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef Supported Projects
To promote and encourage continuous improvement in sustainability of the U.S. beef value chain, the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef is dedicated to recognizing, as appropriate, other sustainability initiatives whose aims are consistent with our mission and vision. In that initiative, the USRSB has evaluated the following field and pilot projects that have requested support, based on their alignment to the USRSB Mission and Guiding Principles and Guidelines for Project Support, and has supported their efforts as they work to verify sustainability indicators and metrics.
If you are interested in applying for project support, click here to fill out an application.
For additional questions about project support please contact the USRSB Administrator at [email protected].
USRSB Supported Projects
Integrity Beef Sustainability Pilot Project
University of Tennessee Institute for Agriculture Cow-Calf Metric Validation Project
Kansas State University, Beef Cattle Institute Connecting Supply Chain through Sustainability
The USRSB announced it's support in May 2018 of the Kansas State University, Beef Cattle Institute’s project proposal to submit a USDA Higher Education Planning Grant Application for their project entitled Connecting Supply Chain through Sustainability: Initiating a multi-disciplinary, multi-industry approach using the case of beef cattle. For questions or more information, please contact B. White.
JBS USA Pilot Project
As part of our commitment to demonstrate to our customers and consumers that beef is a beneficial and sustainable source of high-quality protein, we are piloting the adoption of the draft USRSB metrics across our fed cattle supply and in our processing facilities. The primary projected outcomes from our pilot project is to prove that industry adoption of our USRSB metrics is viable. Secondary outcomes will be the collection of individual self-assessment of more than 5.7 million head of feedlot cattle annually that enter our fed cattle processing plants. The successful implementation of this pilot will inform our decision to extend this approach across all of our processing plants, impacting more than 7.9 million head of cattle annually. For more information, please contact N. Richardson.
University of California (UC), Davis - Animal Science Department, Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Project
Sustainable Beef Production: The Hows, Whats and Whys to Create a Producer Focused Sustainability Educational Program - We want to understand what motivates producers to join programs to their advantage and ultimately to the whole industry’s advantage. By learning from the success of the Beef Quality Assurance Program (BQA) we aim to create a producer-focused educational program that ensures the fluid and effective implementation of the USRSB Indicators and Metrics. For questions or more information, please contact J. Oltjen.
Merck Meat Calculator
Kcoe-Isom, WWF, and Hy-Plains Feedyard Pilot Project
Grass Run Farms-JBS USA - Grass Run Farms Sustainability Pilot
University of Tennessee - Improving the Fescue: Belt Forage System for Greater, More Profitable, and Sustainable Cow-Calf Production
Northern Great Plains Sustainable Beef Pilot
Expanding and Testing the Utility of Land Potential Knowledge System (LandPKS)
Improving On-Ranch Sustainability: A Pilot Educational Program for Cow-Calf Producers Sustainable Ranch Management Workshop
Montana Improved Grazing Carbon Project
This project explores using carbon credits as a lever to bring funding to producers and promote regenerative grazing practices. The project seeks to measure and increase soil carbon over a 30-year project, directly fund regenerative practices on 200,000 acres by 2021, reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the beef supply chain, and increase adoption of improved grazing practices on the Northern Great Plains. For more information, please contact K. McKnight.
Ruminant Methane Efficiency Tool (RMET)
The RMET is a management tool for measuring operational efficiency and represents the environmental footprint of North American cattle operations. It consolidates multiple sources of operational data into a single framework with a common denominator – CO2e emitted per unit of production building upon the concept that carbon lost is money lost. For questions or more information, please contact K. Rockeman.