Organic. Grass-fed. Sustainable.
Those labels can make beef sound like a greener version of the same product.
But when researchers compared organic, grass-fed beef with conventional, grain-fed production found something awkward: organic beef produced 95% more carbon emissions for every kilogram of live cattle body weight gained. It also performed worse for water use, reactive nitrogen loss and fossil fuel use. That does not suddenly make feedlots environmentally friendly. It exposes a much bigger problem with “sustainable beef”.
