Straight from the Horses Mouth

Duane A. Lienemann
UNL Extension Educator

       As we end this week and start a new one, I would like to pay tribute to the “Greatest Generation” in the remembrance of something that occurred 70 years ago from the day that I wrote this article – “D-Day!”
On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline, to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which, “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end, the Allies gained a foot-hold in Continental Europe. The cost in lives on D-Day was high. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded, but their sacrifice allowed more than 100,000 Soldiers to begin the slow, hard slog across Europe, to defeat Adolf Hitler’s crack troops, took the big step to win WWII and of course helped insure our freedom. The rest is history! 
     I am proud to say that my father was part of that operation at one of the staging areas at the 8th Air Force Base in England where he served as a mechanic keeping bombers in the air. One of the stories that dad talked about was the food, or actually the type of food they had, and it had a lot to do with what we ate as kids. Their main staple was mutton from Australia, shiploads of mutton, so the first thing he wanted when coming back was a good Nebraska corn-fed steak. So beef was a constant for our table plus some pork and chicken. This actually ties into my discussion for this week as it involves Australia, but in this case instead of mutton it involves grass-fed beef from that country and a decision by one of my least favorite food places, Chipotle’s Mexican Grill, to forego good American beef in favor of this beef from another country. 
     It seem that Chipotle’s wants to source their beef from Australia because “it is natural and grass fed”. Chipotle Mexican Grill claims it can't find enough "responsibly raised" beef from American ranchers to fill its burritos, so CEO Steve Ells says the company will buy Australian beef to make up the shortfall and says so in an article he published in the Huffington Post. You can read Ells’ article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-ells/conventional-vs-grassfed-_b_5405894.html . I read this article earlier this week and of course it got my attention and achieved  getting my blood pressure up – again! 
      You may remember that earlier this year Chipotle funded the mini-series inappropriately called "Farmed and Dangerous" that characterizes the American farmer/rancher as Dr. Doom. The series shows the “Factory Farm” using antibiotics and feeding the cattle corn instead of grass. Horrors of horrors! These videos also played as a classic tale of good vs. evil. The villains, without surprise, are “big food” corporate bullies stopping at nothing to make a buck, aka Chipotle’s view of modern agriculture. If you have a strong heart and stomach you can see it at: http://farmedanddangerous.com/   
     This company-owned restaurant chain has expanded to more than 1,600 stores across the U.S. and Canada, and is headquartered out of Denver, Colorado – which should tell you something. Ironically they promote their “Food With Integrity” (FWI) program, which according to them includes naturally raised beef and pork from animals on a vegetarian diet. They go on to say that these hormone and antibiotic free animals are only raised in “humane” ways. As if our farmers and ranchers do not!!!  Good Lord – give me a break!! Where is the integrity in that?
     Ells make the statement in his diatribe – “The transition toward grass-fed beef won't happen overnight. But we need to start somewhere, and years of research by our purchasing team suggests that Australia is the best place to start sourcing grass-fed beef at the scale. We're optimistic that our decision to serve grass-fed beef from Australia is one small step in the larger journey of restoring the practice of raising great American beef entirely on grass.” On their website they brag - “We’ve put a lot of work into poking, prodding, convincing, and occasionally applying guilt to ranchers in order to get more and more suppliers to meet our naturally raised standards. Because so many ranchers don’t raise their animals right and sometimes need a little guilt to get them to change their destructive ways.”  Is the blood squirting out of my eyes?
     I think that Ells and Chipotle has got it wrong -or are using some smoke and mirrors. Let’s explore a few things that maybe we should consider. First, I fear Chipotle has outgrown their ability to stay true to their roots. Australia- really??
That's not a local, sustainable food supply model. The real reason I would bet is dollars. Big corporations in Australia peddling industrialized grass fed beef perhaps? Low price points to big margins, especially considering the cost of beef right now in America. Fact is most of the restaurants want to market the farm to fork, wholesome food story- but they want the product supplied to them - cheap. They will not pay a small premium for better product, so they need an excuse! Voilà!! I don't fault Chipotle for making all the dollars they can, but why disparage the American farmer and rancher?
     Most all beef is grass-fed beef - fact! The only difference is how the cattle are finished for the last few months. Either they continue to eat grass as their finishing diet, or they will slowly transition over to a high energy, grain based diet. While grass-finished beef is shown to have higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids and CLA's compared with corn-finished beef, it's not significant in the human diet. We are fortunate in the USA to have a wide variety of farmers and ranchers raising cattle for beef. The variety of production practices depends on the land/forage resources available to them and the market of consumers they have to support their product at a price that allows them to remain in business. I know farmers who finish their cattle on grass and many who finish their cattle on grain, and both do so in a responsible and respectful manner! I have a lot more to say on this topic – so I will have to finish next week --and I guarantee you it won’t be with a Chipotle burrito!!

The preceding information comes from the research and personal observations of the writer which may or may not reflect the views of UNL or UNL Extension. For more further information on these or other topics contact D. A. Lienemann, UNL Extension Educator for Webster  County in Red Cloud, (402) 746-3417 or email to: dlienemann2@unl.edu or go to the website at: www.webster.unl.edu/home