Advancing sustainable beef production: Opportunities & challenges

For the past months, we’ve been working with Terra Genesis and other industry experts to explore the sustainable beef production market. Our research has produced a robust and growing database of over 200 companies and 30 datasets supporting the transition to sustainable beef.

This week, we’re sharing the findings of our joint research with the wider community in the format of an up-to-date sector map and accompanying report.

What are the favorable market trends?

A number of trends suggest a growing interest in sustainable beef production:

• Rising consumer demand: Consumer interest in sustainable beef production is steadily growing. In the US, a 2024 study revealed consumers are increasingly seeking attributes like ‘USDA organic’ and 100% grass-fed when purchasing beef.

• Growing market: The regenerative meat and global organic beef markets are projected to outpace the conventional beef market in terms of growth  over the next ten years.

• New collaborative efforts: For example, the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef is working with farming and ranching communities to promote conservation practices, and the Nature Conservancy has developed a Roadmap for a Sustainable Beef system to help companies identify opportunities and track progress toward environmental goals. 

• Corporate commitments: For example, Walmart U.S, Sam’s Club U.S. and General Mills, have set targets to accelerate the adoption of regenerative agriculture on 600,000 acres of the U.S. by 2030. 

Sustainable beef production is still a tiny fraction of the whole

Despite positive signals, sustainable beef production still presents a tiny fraction of the overall beef production market. Based on current growth rates, organic and regenerative beef production are not projected to carve more than 1% market share by 2035. 

How Cattle Tech functions as a key growth catalyst  

Technology has the potential to play a crucial role in catalyzing the growth of sustainable beef production over the next decade, by addressing key obstacles preventing the adoption of more sustainable practices.

In particular, there has been a surge of technological solutions focused on monitoring and improving beef sustainability, and an increasing amount of research today focuses on better understanding the environmental impact of beef production.   

New technologies in this area tend to concentrate on carbon impact measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) and modeling, as well as decision-making tools for ranchers. Innovations include hardware and biotech solutions designed to improve ranch efficiency across key areas such as soil health, forage quality, feed optimization, biodiversity, herd management, fertility, animal health, genomics, and other essential management factors.

Mapping the Cattle Tech landscape today: Our new sector map

Our 2024 Cattle Tech sector map has been compiled through a combination of desk research and expert interviews and - to our knowledge - delivers the most current and comprehensive inventory for the sector to date.  By mapping the current cattle tech landscape and identifying key opportunities and challenges, it becomes easier to pinpoint areas ripe for further research, innovation and investment.

Download the Cattle Tech sector map here.

Closing the Gaps: Understanding the opportunities for industry advancement

Through our interviews with subject matter experts, we identified a range of current gaps and opportunities for advancing the industry. 

Thank you to all of the following organizations for providing their time to inform this work: Colorado State University, Spark Climate Solutions, Bezos Earth Fund, Michigan State University Center for Regenerative Agriculture, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Cornell Food Systems and Global Change, the US Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, and the Growing GRASS Initiative,

1. Addressing the lack of forage-quality data 

Our research highlighted a lack of available data on forage quality, crucial for understanding and managing methane emissions from grazing animals. This gap hinders efforts to reduce methane emissions since forage quality directly influences the methane output of livestock. 

2. Measuring methane emissions in relation to cattle genetics 

Scientists and farmers are paying more attention to cattle genetics to identify and breed animals that naturally produce less methane. To identify which animals have these "low-emission" traits, it's important to measure methane output in natural, everyday conditions. If the animals are stressed or handled too much during testing, it could change behavior or digestion, leading to unreliable results. By using methods that minimize interference with the animals, researchers can get more accurate data to make better breeding decisions for reducing emissions.

3. Soil carbon sequestration remains a strong area of interest 

Studying soil-plant-animal relationships may support the potential of carbon sequestration.  Soil carbon sequestration remains a strong area of interest for the industry - as highlighted by the abundance of technologies available for soil carbon MMRV.

4. Improving monitoring systems for grassland biodiversity & water

There is currently a gap in the technologies and datasets focused on biodiversity and water quality and quantity, as well as a lack of industry consensus on how to appropriately monitor and define biodiversity. 

Monitoring grassland biodiversity presents a significant opportunity in the context of sustainable beef production. 

Compared to monitoring forests, grassland biodiversity tracking is less mature and presents unique challenges: species diversity is less visually distinctive from above (eg, via satellite imagery)  than diversity in forest canopy structures, for example.

The development of tools like remote sensing adapted for grasslands and biodiversity indices tailored to grazing ecosystems requires further investment and research. There is an opportunity available to those who integrate these tools with sustainable beef production practices, enabling producers to align grazing management with biodiversity goals. 

5. More industry collaboration & standardization is needed

Several experts highlight the importance of aligning the industry on definitions, standards, and practices, especially regarding sustainability metrics. Interviews emphasized the impact of privately held datasets on public models, suggesting that collaboration and data sharing could improve the industry's approach to sustainable beef production. 

Traceability was also noted as a particular gap in available technologies; advancement in traceability will likely necessitate industry collaboration.

6. Ensuring innovation connects to reality on the ground

There is a need to center the priorities of producers in the innovation process. This theme emerges from the emphasis on practical, cost-effective solutions that address the realities of ranching. Though most tech companies intentionally design for their user, low adoption rates and inaccurate data collection may reflect a disconnection with the rancher experience.

Watch our dedicated session on the future of sustainable beef

To mark the launch of our cattle tech sector map, we held a special webinar session with experts from the field to explore and discuss the results of our research findings in more detail. For this session we were joined by a panel of experts from the sector, representing: Terra Genesis, LandPrint, AgriWebb, and The First Thirty.

While Cattle Tech shows strong potential, success hinges on local implementation

In highlighting positive headwinds and macro-level trends, it’s also important to consider local differences between systems, and how local socio-political context can drive prioritization and decision-making on the ground.

For example, the United States is highly idiosyncratic in its approach to cattle tracking and reporting. There is a high degree of variability across systems, which may present challenges when looking to apply solutions at scale. Loss of culture and lands in the face of real estate development may also be a strong motivation driver, and linking sustainable development pathways like biodiversity monitoring & MRV to these motivations may be advantageous. 

Conversely in Brazil, innovation is likely to be tied closely to addressing ecological concerns and access to premium markets. In this case, the integration of technology for sustainable beef production is increasingly prioritized. Brazil’s beef industry operates within vast and biodiverse ecosystems like the Amazon and Cerrado, central to global concerns about deforestation and carbon emissions. As decarbonization becomes an increasing pressure, Brazil has embraced technologies like pasture management tools and digital platforms to promote transparency. Programs promoting integrated crop-livestock-forestry (ICLF) systems, which enhance carbon sequestration and biodiversity while boosting productivity, are also gaining traction, but scaling these practices may be challenging.

Are you a provider of cattle tech solutions?   

The Nature Tech Collective is interested in supporting and partnering with companies and institutions delivering solutions for this space. Contact us at hello@naturetechcollective.org or register interest to become a Nature Tech Collective member here.