Environmental, social, and economic footprints of current and past beef production systems

The beef industry has defined sustainability as meeting the growing demand for beef by balancing environmental responsibility, economic opportunity, and social diligence. Measuring sustainability is challenging, as the beef supply chain is one of the most complex food systems in the world. As the first and largest research project of this kind, this study represents an innovative approach toward creating a more sustainable beef product. Our objective is to establish a sustainability baseline (including environmental, economic, and social footprints) for the US beef industry by quantifying life cycle inputs and outputs for beef production over time