Will Eating Less U.S. Beef Save the Rainforests?

There are often some common misperceptions about beef consumption. One is that eating less beef is one lifestyle change that can have a major impact on reducing your carbon footprint. However, if you live in the U.S. and eat U.S. beef, it's likely to be very minimal. U.S. beef accounts for just .5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. There are probably a number of other quite arbitrary lifestyle changes that could have a similar impact that would allow you to have your steak and eat it too. U.S. beef is just not exchangeable for other sources of beef.

The counter to this is often that if we reduced consumption in the U.S. our more sustainable beef could be exported to other countries, reducing the incentive to clear environmentally sensitive lands for beef production. However, as U.C. Davis air quality extension specialist Frank Mitloehner explains, again, U.S. beef is not exchangeable for other sources of beef produced other ways in other countries:

"In 1970, Americans consumed about 80 pounds of beef per person. Today? About 57 pounds. And in 1970, the U.S. exported less than 1 percent of its production but over 11 percent in 2018. Americans have long been doing their part according to this model. So, why is Brazil expanding its grazing area?

In short, they are different products serving different markets. Beef from Brazil is not the same as beef from the U.S., which specializes in producing well-marbled, grain-finished beef. Conversely, Brazilian beef exports tend to be grass-finished, leaner and in general lower-quality products. As a result, these two countries are producing beef for very different consumers – the U.S. is targeting higher-income countries for exports, such as Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, where demand growth is slower, whereas Brazilian beef is headed to lower-income consumers in countries such as China, Chile, Egypt and Iran, where demand growth is much faster. In short, any potential gains by U.S. consumption have been swamped by growing demand elsewhere.

Would increased U.S. beef exports eventually displace Brazilian beef exports in lower-income countries? Maybe, but it would take a considerable change in consumer choices and income in those countries. ....It’s just not that simple. Ultimately, a U.S. consumer eating less meat has not and will not displace consumption of Brazilian beef in Iran or China and therefore, decrease land expansion into the Amazon. That’s not how global beef markets work."