Green Daily

Grass-fed has been popping up a lot more often lately amid the flurry of buzzwords in the food industry. There are many good reasons for it, including our environment.

Although most agree vegetarians and vegans hold the prize for ultimate environmentally-friendly eating, meat eaters who make sure their steaks are labeled grass-fed are pumping their blood full of iron and keeping livestock farmers in business without feeling guilty about environmental impact. Why? According to the American Grassfed Association, animals allowed to graze on pasture spread out their waste over the entire pasture area, providing a natural source of fertilizer. At a commercial feedlot or dairy, manure must be collected, trucked, and then spread onto fields. Large amounts of waste may prompt the spreading of manure too heavily or to use scarce water resources to wash it into a smelly storage lagoon. Grazing operations are truly "grass farms", which don't require the magnitude of diesel or gasoline to power the equipment used to farm commercial grains.

It all sounds great until you're in the grocery store and can't find the stuff. And if you do, it's expensive (I presume this is because animals raised entirely on grass mature more slowly, therefore raising costs). There are many online resources, but, to me, the greenness of grass-fed is diminished if it has to travel a long way to get to your kitchen. I have found select options at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods Market. And recently, my local Super Target started carrying grassfed ground beef for $4.49 a pound (the cheapest I've found anywhere). Among the goals of the American Grassfed Association is to help consumers find grassfed products; the web site includes an extensive listing of certified producers and other online resources. This web site offers more of the same.

Go back

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