The increase in beef industry productivity has significantly reduced the industry’s impact on the environment. Without the 82 percent productivity improvement over the past 50 years, we would need a much larger cattle herd to produce a much smaller total beef supply. These extra cattle would occupy significant amounts of land now used for other crops and for non-agricultural uses.

Over the past 50 years, technology has increased the amount of beef produced per acre of corn by 218 percent and the amount of beef from an acre of roughage by 700 percent. As a result, the total acres of corn required for all fed cattle has actually decreased by 6 percent and acres of roughage required to feed cattle has decreased by 63 percent in the same 50-year period.