CALF_News_April_May_2019

35 CALF News • April | May 2019 • www.calfnews.net M embers of the agriculture industry typically under- stand how food gets from farm to plate, whether they are producers within the industry, know producers within the industry, or simply understand how the industry works. But, that number is at a minority today. Most consumers are generations away from any connection to production agriculture; they have no idea how an animal gets from farm to fork. Consequently, the beef industry, and the agriculture industry as a whole, are seeing a demand for traceability. Consumers now want to know, specifically, where their food is coming from and what resources are going in to producing the beef they purchase at the grocery store. However, the problem isn’t that the beef industry wants to hide their production practices; the problem is implementing a system where this information can be recorded throughout an animal’s entire lifespan, from cow-calf to stocker to feeder to packer and to retailer. This is the way consumer demand is moving, so the beef industry must adapt our supply to meet demand. China is ahead of the United States in traceability for beef products in supplying information on some products, including harvest date, breed, age, and country and/ or farm of origin. Seeing that it can be done elsewhere, the beef industry needs to begin the process of implementing a similar system into U.S. beef production. The solution to this is blockchain. By using radio frequency ID tags, producers at each stage of production can upload information about where an animal or group of animals is bought or sold; its price; what it was fed; vaccines, implants and other treatments it received; sex; breed; age; if it was sold on the spot or forward market; harvest date; and other information, as well. The producer at each stage of produc- tion can enter this information, which follows the animal(s) throughout their entire life cycle via an online ledger con- nected to the EID tag. Then, this informa- tion can be connected to a barcode on the package that consumers can scan. This point-of-purchase barcode could also link to informative articles about why that animal was raised a certain way. Transpar- ency for beef production can be addressed by linking articles about hormone use, antibiotic use, grain vs. grass finishing, and any other aspect of beef production. Or, recipes can be linked to promote the purchasing and use of beef products. It’s all just academics if you can’t pay for it, though. But, at a cost of $5/tag, this could easily be implemented on opera- tions. The cost can be covered by a slight premium in price in the retail end, or it could be tied into the current checkoff program or by creating a similar program to cover the cost at sale for each stage of production in order to limit the financial risk for those involved in production. But there are a few kinks with this solution. Blockchain can be used to record a plethora of different types of data, only some of which would be useful for a consumer. Feed intake and specific feed rations, type of vaccine or implant used, type of market used to sell the ani- mals, and price they were sold at could be beneficial to producers and lend a hand in managing cattle health and efficiency as they move through the production cycle, but this information would be meaning- less to consumers. The information provided to consumers should be limited, otherwise it becomes a hindrance rather than a benefit. Age, sex, breed, harvest date, location(s) of produc- tion, vaccine/hormone usage, and finisher feed type (grass or grain finished) should be accessible to consumers at a level that will be comprehensible to them in terms of purchasing options. In addition to trace- ability for consumers, blockchain could offer solutions for produc- ers, assisting in making risk management decisions, disease management, and feed and feed efficiency management. It pro- vides an entire background on a group of cattle, which enables them to make more educated decisions on how to manage each specific group, depending on their previous environment. While this isn’t an end-all solution without any kinks, it lends to the begin- ning of a traceability program for the beef industry. Tests would need to be done on what information consumers find most important and if the premium price for these traceable beef products is worth the extra cost to consumers. But block- chain offers a new technology to the beef industry to help further the development of the industry and offers a step toward providing consumers with the traceability of beef products they demand.  Olivia Willrett, a Colorado State Univer- sity student majoring in animal science and agricultural business, was the overall winner of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange scholar- ship with her essay, “Tracing Beef from Farm to Fork.” In addition to the scholarship money, Willrett also won the opportunity to attend the Cattle Industry Convention and NCBA Trade Show, where she was recog- nized at the Best of Beef Breakfast. Tracing Beef from Farm to Fork By Olivia Willrett Contributing Editor