Upcoming Events

Habitat-Fed Beef: Separating Facts From Fiction in Grass-Fed and ‘Regenerative’ Beef

March 23, 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET 

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Everyone from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fast-food companies is seeking solutions to the environmental harms caused by beef production — experimenting with carbon sequestration, regenerative grazing systems, and technologies to address emissions. Grass-fed beef has been touted as the answer to the problem of factory farms.

But how do we ensure that conversations about soil health and carbon sequestration don’t lose the holistic view of how cattle interact with wildlife and wild places? What does it mean for cattle producers to be stewards of the land, and how does that change when we focus on ecology and biodiversity?

In a country like the United States, which consumes four times the global average in beef, culture wars shape the way we talk about, think about, study, and address how much beef we eat and how it’s produced. The beef industry, infamous for a powerful lobby and increasing consolidation, is embracing “regenerative” language. Yet exactly what’s required to make a beef producer sustainable — and whether sustainable beef is even possible — remain unclear. 

Cows, Climate and Culture Wars: Putting Bad Policy Out to Pasture

April 7, 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET

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There’s growing concern among scientists and the public about the environmental cost of the United States’ outsized appetite for beef. But there’s also a fierce political backlash against the suggestion that we reduce our beef consumption. These dynamics have everyone — from federal policymakers to local producers and big corporations — scrambling to broadcast new climate commitments on beef production, such as net-zero pledges.

In this conversation, food and climate experts will break down the climate science of beef and explore which solutions are most effective — and most needed — in climate policy and commitments. What’s the role for grass-fed and so-called regenerative beef in a climate-friendly food system? Where are the gaps in our ability to reduce climate emissions, and what are the limits and potentials of carbon sequestration, methane capture, carbon markets, consumer awareness and industry oversight? We’ll also discuss how culture wars shape the way we talk about, think about, study, and address climate impacts in beef production — and whether voluntary benchmarks can work under these conditions. 

Regenerative Grazing: Addressing the Colonial Roots of Cattle Ranching

April 28, 3 p.m. PT/ 6 p.m. ET 

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The introduction of cows to the Americas brought colonialist legacies that changed the relationship of people to land. As we continue our webinar series about food, farming and the impacts of cows, we dive deeper into the history of how cattle grazing affected the ways land was imagined, understood and used.   

Today regenerative practices are offered as options to heal the injustices and damaging agricultural practices of the past. This panel will discuss how we got here — how cows advanced colonial projects and capitalist economies and drove the loss of Native lives, livelihoods and culture. To transform the food system, we need food justice, land equity, restoration of traditions, and challenges to power, along with environmentally responsible practices.   

In this conversation panelists will discuss both past and future, including pathways to revive knowledge and food practices that are more in line with healthy communities and living landscapes.