IFEEDER Fodder

The Protein PACT for the People, Animals & Climate of Tomorrow unites partners including the Institute for Feed Education and Research (IFEEDER) across the animal agriculture supply chain in the largest-ever effort to strengthen animal protein’s contributions to the people, animals and climate of tomorrow. Following the Protein PACT’s launch in July 2021, the North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) and our partners have been hard at work to set measurable baselines, verify progress toward ambitious achievements and communicate transparently about how nutrient-dense animal-sourced foods contribute to sustainable food security solutions.

The Institute for Feed Education and Research is making progress on several of its sustainability initiatives. We are wrapping up phase one of the Sustainability Road Map project and will be releasing a sustainability toolkit for feed industry members in January during the International Production and Processing Expo. Another project, the Feed Systems Sustainability Summit, held in September, was a great success and the takeaways are informing actions for the industry and its stakeholders. During the November Sustainable Agriculture Summit (SAS), over 800 representatives from the food value chain gathered, networked and made plans to advance sustainability efforts up and down the supply chain. All of these initiatives are informing IFEEDER’s actions to support feed systems sustainability, and our next steps are taking shape as we prepare to shift to phase two of our efforts.

This week, the Institute for Feed Education and Research (IFEEDER) made headlines for the research work we support at the Clarity and Leadership for Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) Center at the University of California-Davis.  Despite detractors’ efforts to discredit research underway, we are proud of the work we do with public institutions, such as the CLEAR Center. We can’t address food security while reducing our environmental impact independently. We must engage.

Our peers in animal agriculture, that is the farmers and ranchers who produce meat, milk and eggs every day for Americans to eat, must think holistically about the sustainability of their production systems. Beyond their downstream customers’ sustainability reporting desires, they are responsible to the communities surrounding their farms, regulatory agencies monitoring environmental impact and consuming public’s perceptions.  

There is a growing interest for animal food companies to better understand the impacts of their operations and supply chains to identify market opportunities and meet expectations of downstream stakeholders. Utilizing life cycle assessment (LCA) tools are a great way to assess the footprint of operations and existing product lines. They can also be used to innovate and seize on growing demand for sustainable products in the marketplace.

Most of the environmental impact for animal protein is embedded in the feed that animals eat. By reducing feed impacts, food companies have an opportunity to make significant progress toward climate and sustainability goals.

In recent years, an increasing number of foods are being marketed and labeled as free of genetically modified (GM) ingredients. For milk, meat or eggs, this means the animals these foods come from are fed exclusively non-GM feed. You need to look no further than current headlines to see the attention given to rising food prices, the need to curb greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other sustainability elements.  

Attention to our own health and the health of our planet has given rise to an array of diet recommendations that have advice for optimizing both. Relative to the planet, advocates for reduced meat diets point to the environmental impacts attributed to animal production as a key issue, whereas advocates for meat as a good protein source point to the beneficial role that animal production plays in better soil health and conservation agriculture. Like many concepts, the truth is unclear, understanding the issues around diets and agriculture is complex and many options may be viable, depending on your goals.