Strengthening dialogue within and beyond the animal agriculture community

Thanks for coming back to this latest installment of my monthly series sharing more about the Meat Institute’s continuous improvement efforts and the Protein PACT. As I think about the audience for this series and what information is most useful for this online community, I’ve also been thinking a lot about our efforts to expand our connections in the real world – within and beyond animal agriculture.

Over the last several weeks, the Meat Institute and our Protein PACT partners have had the opportunity to join the Animal Agriculture Alliance Stakeholder Summit and the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef General Assembly, where we were grateful to connect with stakeholders across the beef and animal agriculture value chains, helping to raise awareness of the Protein PACT continuous improvement vision and each partner’s concrete actions to advance goals that help secure our shared future.

To forge new connections and raise awareness of our efforts with new audiences, the Protein PACT also sponsored the Agriculture Innovation Mission (AIM) for Climate Summit, co-hosted by the governments of the United States and the United Arab Emirates, and partnered with GreenBiz Group to present a webinar on how animal agriculture is driving sustainability solutions.

Several sessions at the AIM for Climate Summit discussed investments in research and innovation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from livestock, and the United States announced new funding for livestock-related projects.

If you missed the Greenbiz webinar, you can register here to access the recording. The panel highlighted the Protein PACT vision and partners’ principles, practices, and proof of progress, including specific discussion of the Meat Institute’s data collection efforts, the National Pork Board’s on-farm sustainability reports, the World Wildlife Fund’s work (conducted in partnership with Protein PACT partner IFEEDER) on sustainabilityin the animal feed sector, and perspectives from soy and cattle producer Jesse Patrick.

Greenbiz founder Joel Makower moderated a discussion session following the panel’s remarks, with questions focused particularly on specific on-farm mitigation methods and incentives for farmers to reduce emissions and optimize biodiversity, among other actions. The discussion highlighted the need to continue transparently reporting on measurable progress and alignment across the value chain.

Let’s be clear – not everyone at the AIM For Climate Summit or in the Greenbiz audience is convinced that animal agriculture can be part of climate solutions. But I am encouraged by the opportunities to engage and find common purpose.

As the FAO affirmedin a report published on April 25, animal-source foods provide essential nutrients that are not easily available from other foods. That makes our efforts to sustain meat for generations to come more important than ever, and we know that further progress is within reach, building on proven sustainability gains over recent decades.

Like everyone, the Meat Institute and our Protein PACT partners want to ensure food has a positive impact on our health, on our communities, and on the environment around us. We believe that animal-source foods are not only compatible with that goal, they are integral to achieving it. We’re taking action to make it happen, and we’re excited to continue seeking dialogue that helps everyone move farther, faster.

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In case you missed it: Earlier in April, a special edition of the peer-reviewed journal Animal Frontiers featured evidence on meat’s role in society, building on an international summit hosted by Teagasc in October 2022 and reinforcing the call by more than 1000 scientists worldwide to avoid over-simplifying consideration of meat production and consumption.

See coverage of the FAO report on animal-source foods and nutrition here, and coverage of the Animal Frontiers edition here.

Read the article on LinkedIn.