Hoping to boost their image in foreign markets, some Argentine beef producers are undergoing studies to quantify their environmental footprint. (Photo courtesy of Rodolfo Bongiovanni)
Under international pressure to cut their industry’s greenhouse-gas emissions, Argentina’s beef industry is beginning to conduct studies aimed at quantifying its environmental impact. Two cattle-ranches recently completed a Swedish-designed environmental product declaration administered by Argentine government technical bodies. The “farm-to-gate” studies found that the greenhouse-gas emissions of the two ranches, which raise grass-fed cows and preserve native forest, were offset by the carbon sequestration of their land’s vegetation. Such declarations provide lifecycle environmental information about a product to allow comparisons with the green impact of other, similar products. Declarations for the ranches, published in late January, come two years after a Córdoba meatpacking plant, Logros, became Argentina’s first beef-industry facility to complete a “cradle-to-grave” environmental study. “We must show our sustainability to the world with data and credentials that are accepted without condition,” says Adrián Bifaretti of the Argentine Beef... [Log in to read more]
