Last month Elanco and Ducks Unlimited announced a partnership to emphasize the strong bond between environmental sustainability and agriculture – specifically beef cattle production – across North America. Over the next two years Elanco will invest $50,000 annually with Ducks Unlimited to help purchase grass seed to support reseeding efforts on working lands in western Kansas, enough to reseed at least 1,000 acres during the course of the project.

The grassland restoration initiative is part of the existing SAFE (State Acres for Wildlife Enhancement) project. The SAFE project is an existing collaboration between the USDA Farm Service Agency and Ducks Unlimited with the goal of restoring grasslands and protecting embedded playa wetlands in western Kansas.

How does this partnership relate to the sustainability of beef cattle production? And what is one of the world’s leading animal health companies doing to help producers address consumer concerns about the overall environmental impact of livestock and meat production?

In this episode we talk with Dr. Sara Place, Elanco’s Chief Sustainability Officer, to answer those questions, and to get her take on ways the beef industry has improved its sustainability in recent years, and how producers can better communicate those improvements to a highly-engaged consuming public. Prior to joining Elanco, Dr. Place worked as senior director of sustainable beef production research at the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, and was previously an assistant professor of sustainable beef production systems at Oklahoma State University. 

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