Des Moines Register
06-11-06
Brasher: Health push, ecology drive grass-fed beef's appeal
USDA to allow special seal if pasture diet is 99% grass
PHILIP BRASHER
WASHINGTON FARM REPORT
Tom German of Holstein, Ia., stopped growing corn and soybeans seven years
ago, seeded his land to grass and did something that's a near sacrilege in the
heart of the Corn Belt.
He started raising and fattening beef cattle without feeding them a kernel of corn.
German's cattle eat nothing but grass.
Nationwide and in Iowa, virtually all beef cattle are fattened on corn, often in
large feedlots of 1,000 head or more. But German is among a tiny but growing
band of farmers who are feeding demand from consumers who think grassfinished beef is healthier and better for the environment.
Beef from cattle that are raised on grass is typically lower in saturated fat and
contains small amounts of the heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids mostly found in
fish.
"That stuff is resonating with some people. They're coming looking for people like
us," says German, who sells 300 to 400 grass-fattened cattle a year.
Pasture-based cattle producers like German are about to get some help from the
government: The U.S. Agriculture Department is going to allow grass-fed beef to
carry a special USDA seal verifying that the meat is from cattle fattened only in
pastures.
The USDA scrapped an earlier proposal that would have allowed cattle to get as
much as 20 percent of their diets from corn and still be labeled as grass-fed.
Advocates of grass-fed beef say that rule would have allowed big beef
processors to label corn-fed beef as grass-fed.
The new proposal will require a diet of 99 percent grass. Farms will be inspected
annually, at their own expense, to get the USDA seal. Even producers who don't
want to use the USDA seal may still be required to comply with the 99 percent
requirement to label their beef as "grass-fed," officials say.
"It's going to more clearly establish what the standard is for grass-fed, and it's a
high standard," says Todd Churchill, who runs the Minnesota-based Thousand
Hills Cattle Co., which supplies grass-fed beef to supermarkets and restaurants
in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.
Churchill is on the lookout for new producers. Thousand Hills is buying beef from
25 farmers this year, primarily in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. The company
has doubled its business every year since it started in 2003 and plans to double
again next year, which will mean slaughtering 1,400 head.
There are no authoritative figures on the number of grass-finished cattle
nationwide, although it's certain to be a tiny fraction of the 25 million beef cattle
typically put through feedlots each year, a million of those in Iowa.
Some major natural-foods supermarket chains, including Whole Foods and
Trader Joe's, have started selling grass-fed beef, much of it imported.
Grass-fed beef "is a fad right now. It's growing," said John Lawrence, an
agricultural economist at Iowa State University. "The question is how big will
it get."
Beef industry officials see grass-fed beef as a legitimate niche market but object
to the meat being considered healthier than corn-fed.
"We certainly support people having that choice. Our primary issue and concern
is where people make unsubstantiated health claims," said Gary Weber,
executive director of regulatory affairs for the National Cattlemen's Beef
Association.
Grass-fed beef can cost twice as much as conventional beef, and even grass-fed
boosters admit that the quality can vary considerably. Experts say the proper
cattle genetics are crucial - Churchill looks for old British breeds that feedlot
operators don't like because they gain weight too quickly. And the intensive
management involved in cultivating rich forage and moving cattle from paddock
to paddock isn't for everybody.
Many parts of the country, much of Texas, for example, have too little rainfall to
grow the grass necessary to fatten cattle. In the upper Midwest, adequate, highquality pasture can be expensive and hard to find, and it can be hard to fatten
through the winter without giving them grain.
Cooking grass-fed beef is trickier, too. Because it's often leaner than
conventional beef, it can easily turn out tough.
The American Grassfed Association recommends rubbing a grass-fed steak with
a light vegetable oil before grilling it and eating it rare or medium rare at the most.
Neither that cooking hassle nor the cost will be to the taste for most consumers.
But advocates of grass-fed beef say there are environmental benefits in keeping
cattle on pasture their entire lives. Cultivating forage crops consumes less fuel
and fertilizer than corn, and there is less pollution from pastures than from
cornfields and feedlots.
Grass-fed beef also has gotten a boost from several popular books, including
"Fast Food Nation," the 2001 bestseller by Eric Schlosser that slammed the beef
industry, and this year, Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma."
Some consumers just like the idea of buying producers closer to home.
"There is a reason why the beef industry doesn't put big feedlots in their
advertising. They're not very appealing," says Churchill.
German turned to the grass-fed business for environmental reasons. He said it
made more sense to grow grass on his hilly, erosion-prone land, than corn.
Greg Koether, one of Churchill's producers, says that the grass-fed beef provides
an alternative to conventional livestock business, which is increasingly controlled
by large, vertically integrated packers.
"It's the most promising thing in agriculture since I've been alive," says Koether,
who grass-finishes 60 cattle a year near McGregor, Ia.
"Now we've finally got an excuse to turn 90 degrees or run 180 degrees the other
way."