Get Back to the Country

Friday, May 16, 2008

All Gassed Up?

I recently heard a nationally syndicated "pundit" bemoaning how much gasoline it took to produce the traditional beef found in the grocery stores.  By the time you add up the fuel used to grow the corn to feed the steer, to haul the steer to and from the feedlots, to haul the processed beef to it's final destination in the supermarket, it's a significant amount.  This "expert" then coyly asked if it wouldn't be better for the planet, more "green", if we all stopped eating beef.
 
Well, there's another alternative.
 
Why not START eating grassfed beef?  The use of fossil fuels to produce such a product is a small percentage of that of the grainfed beef.  My guess is that most grassfed beef in the US is bought and eaten within a short distance of where it is produced, instead of being shipped 1500 miles or more, as is the average distance travelled for most products in the typical supermarket. 
 
Wouldn't this be a way we could have our beef and eat it, too?
 
GO GREEN!  EAT GRASSFED!