SUSTAINABILITY Climate friendly beef Producers and processors appeal to green-minded consumers BY BOB SIMS and ERICA SHAFFER bsims@sosland.com C onsumers today worry about the impact traditional animal production of meat has on the planet and climate. When possible, they support companies they feel do a good job of continually figuring out new and more effective ways to lessen their footprint on Earth while maintaining all the attributes consumers enjoy. Reducing meat's impact on the planet and lessening its footprint includes a number of things like water conservation, regenerative farming and stewardship of the land, cutting down greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), or eliminating them altogether, just to name a few. These things often fall under the term sustainability. Sustainability label claims and the practices they represent have gone from niche marketing to mainstream. Major beef producers and processors, and their subsidiaries, usually have a brand or more or product being marketed with sustainability in mind. Many brands today are exclusive to the sustainability market. The number of claims on a label can be overwhelming to a shopper. Some label claims are misunderstood, as well. The marketing claims on labels are intended to provide Certain practices in the production process of beef lessen its impact on Earth and the climate. 62 MEAT+POULTRY | 04.23 | www.meatpoultry.com Tyson Foods Inc.http://www.meatpoultry.com