NW Michigan Food and Farming Network Report to the Community 2015 Report to the Community | Page 26

Food and Farming network

Grass-Finished Beef:
Making the Cut
Up North is growing
beef once again
By Holly Whetstone
Michigan State University
In the spring of 2014, Michigan
State University AgBioResearch
animal scientist Jason Rowntree was
awarded nearly $500,000 by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture to
improve the profitability of grassfinished beef producers in the upper
Great Lakes region.
“Michigan has a climate that is
conducive to grass-finished beef
production, but producers face two
challenges: obtaining efficient weight
gains in the last 60 days of finishing,
and supplying product for a majority of the year,” said Rowntree, who
is also an MSU assistant professor of
animal sciences.
His project, based at MSU’s Lake
City research center, addresses these
challenges by identifying economically feasible production strategies
that are well-suited for producers
in the upper Midwest. Rowntree
believes that forging relationships
between processors and distributors
is the key to meeting long-term retail
supply needs. He’s using this project
to refine a working model for building these partnerships.
For some producers, the absence
of in-state processing facilities forces
them to ship cattle hundreds, or even
thousands, of miles out-of-state.
Rowntree cited a University of Kentucky study that showed that every

MSU’s Jason Rowntree is hoping to improve the profitability of grass-finished
beef producers in the upper Great Lakes region. (Photo: MSU Extension)

$1 spent on beef cattle production
returns $3.50 to the local community.
“The longer producers keep beef
cattle in their state, the more value
it gives to their local economy,
regardless if they are grass-fed or
grain-fed,” he said. “Local packing
and processing is the lifeblood of our
communities, and if we don’t have
them, we’re completely dependent on
someone else to feed us.”
Rowntree hopes to understand
more about consumers’ acceptance
of grass-finished beef versus corn-fed
beef. He will also identify the differences, if any, between fresh and
frozen grass-finished beef.
“Improving the efficiency of grassfinished beef production and collaborating with local retail and culinary
partners will enable small and midsized farms to improve their profit21

ability and sustainability in addition
to increasing the overall food security
of the upper Midwest,” he said.
Rowntree is collaborating with
five other MSU researchers on the
project: Kimberly Cassida, MSU
professor of plant, soil and microbial
sciences; Janice \