By: Allen Williams, Ph.D.
REPUBLIC, Mo. – “Research is like meatloaf,” a wise man once opined. “Before you consume it, you need to know what’s in it and who cooked it.”
Those words came cascading through my mind as I read a recent research paper in the scientific journal PNAS titled “U.S. grass-fed beef is as carbon intensive as industrial beef and 10-fold more intensive than common protein-dense alternatives.”
I shared the paper with several colleagues in the regenerative agriculture research space, and it’s fair to say they were as critical (if not more critical) of the fundamental flaws in the theoretical meta-analysis that underpins this specific paper’s “ingredients” as was I.
“We could have written this paper in 10 minutes on the back of a napkin,” one colleague concluded. “There is nothing new… just a lot of bovine excrement.”
The faults in the aforementioned paper’s methodology notwithstanding, my primary “beef” with research papers like this has more to do with the resulting misinformation consumers receive through the filter of the popular press. The consumption of this misinformation can do great harm to the public’s understanding of the positive impact regenerative and adaptive grazing principles and practices have on improving ecosystem function and in providing healthy, nutrient-dense food to consumers.
Understandably, most casual readers do not have the time to more thoroughly examine the research methodologies (i.e. theoretical modelling versus field data, etc.) involved in the collection and analysis of published research papers. Readers are prone to give credulity to “peer reviewed research,” no matter the defects of the underlying research and analysis. Likewise, most readers do not have the time or inclination to research the backgrounds, potential biases or funding sources of the papers’ authors. The lead author in the paper cited here, for example, has been researching and promoting an anti-meat, pro-vegan diet for some time.
To her credit, the Associated Press journalist who wrote the initial popular press piece on the research paper cited above included a tepid, counter-balancing viewpoint in her article by quoting a “sustainability researcher” at the University of Minnesota. But the resulting headlines, including “Eat grass-fed beef, help the planet? Research says not so simple,” and “Your grass-fed burger isn’t better for the planet, new study finds – Grass-fed beef has no climate benefit,” only serve to leave a misguided impression on the public and provide further veracity to the paper’s flawed thesis.
As another colleague observed, “It’s also true that some of what is labelled as ‘grass fed’ in current U.S. grocery stores is doing anything other than what [the author] describes – so the paper contains a measure of truth. But that has little to do with what’s possible on pasture.”
And therein lies the danger of research based on theoretical models that use data from degraded landscapes and conventional systems while discounting or ignoring the wide sweeping benefits of regenerative and adaptive grazing systems.
There are differences in the way cattle are grazed and produced, just as there are differences in the way crops are produced. Those differences have significant impacts, either good or bad.
The efficacy of soil health improving, carbon sequestering and ecosystem rehabilitating regenerative grazing principles has been well documented through volumes of in-field, peer-reviewed research for well over a decade. In addition to the proven ecological benefits of regenerative and adaptive grazing principles, the systematic implementation of these principles also provides healthier, nutrient-dense food, more profitable farms and ranches, increased biodiversity and more prosperous rural communities.
On a near-daily basis, we see further proof of these benefits in the lives of our fellow regenerative farmers and ranchers. No amount of computer-screen analysis or theoretical meta-data-based “meatloaf” should detract us from realizing the full potential of regenerating our soil, food, farms and futures