Beef a Small Ranch Make Transition. What

¶ … beef a small ranch make transition.

What are the requirements for natural beef and how would a small ranch make the transition?

To begin with, it is important to clarify the caption "natural beef," since it is not self-evident what "natural" means. According to a factsheet from the Food Safety and Inspection Service (2011), part of the United States Department of Agriculture, using the term "natural" on a beef product implies the following: the product is minimally processed and it does not contain any artificial flavoring, coloring or chemical preservatives. However, within the same factsheet a mention is made suggesting that all companies should explain what the term "natural" is actually meant to convey. This means that beef obtained from cattle raised in feedlots, treated with antibiotics and hormones and fed from chemically fertilized pastures can still technically qualify as "natural," even though some consumers might disagree.

On the other hand, the requirements for organic beef are stricter and take more time to satisfy. In order to produce organic beef, companies must be approved by the Food and Drug Administration as organic producers (Troxel, 2005), a long and tedious process involving the following conditions: no antibiotics or hormones can be used in the growth process of cattle, all animals must have access to the outdoors and most importantly all feedstock must be organic. The last condition basically implies that no chemically fertilized pastures or genetically modified crops can be used. The seeds must be organic and the soil must be fertilized through crop rotation, animal and crop waste and it should be at least 3 years free of prohibited substances, such as chemical fertilizers.

However, there is an increasing tendency of natural beef programs in the United States to resemble organic programs. Top natural beef programs from the USDA Certified Beef Programs (2011) are ran by companies such as National Beef or U.S. Premium Beef which include in their requirements of certification conditions resembling some of the conditions imposed by organic growers: no antibiotics, no hormones, no animal by-products in feedstock and humane handling. It is, however, important to mention that the process of certification in a natural beef program is fully controlled by the company owning the brand and not the USDA directly, unlike in the case of organic beef. Each company has a set of rules that a specific natural beef program entails and the producing partners must abide to the rules in order to be part of that program.

So, the requirements for producing natural beef are general, as stated by the USDA and in the same time customizable according to the production and marketing preferences of the companies running the natural beef programs. Most of the natural beef programs are USDA approved and include farmers and ranchers across the country, which are thus committed to the quality standard imposed by the program of choice.

A small ranch can thus make a choice as to whether it wants to produce natural beef on its own, or become affiliated in a natural beef program ran by another company. Both options include similar processes of benchmarking to already known requirements of what natural beef should be. In the first case, the small ranch can copy a set of benchmarks used by larger companies and use its flexibility to accomplish them accordingly in a unique individual way. Perhaps it is cheaper for a small ranch to use organic fertilizer, since it may be readily available or to allow cattle plenty of outdoor time due to the relatively small number of animals. Such factors might allow a small ranch to competitively sell natural beef by implementing a set of benchmarks obtained externally. In the second case, it is clear that the small ranch must abide by the quality standards and principals imposed by the natural beef program. This reduces flexibility, but can hedge against potential risks and surely decreases the effects of natural or economic instabilities on the small ranch. In this way, the rancher may be able to build a steady relationship and ensure future economic success. Given that in both cases benchmarking is used to implement the requirements for producing natural beef, the choice is purely economic.

A study on consumer preferences for specific attributes in natural beef products (Grannis et al., 2001) shows that concern about hormones is consistently higher than other animal -- and environmentally-friendly attributes, while concern about local production is the lowest. Should this be the case, a small ranch is most definitely better off being associated with a larger company that already has an up-and-running natural beef program with proven quality and national reach. A no-hormones guarantee is more credible coming from an established brand that would have a lot to risk should this not be true and thus consumers would be more likely to buy this product and indirectly contribute to the success of the small ranch.