Cattle grazing is critical to maintaining healthy grasslands which help support plant and animal biodiversity.

Grasslands and pastures that cattle graze play an important role in maintaining overall biodiversity and wildlife habitats, and help to reduce soil erosion and greenhouse gases. Canadian cattle farmers and ranchers use management practices that protect the health of their animals and the environment by protecting water sources, grassland ecosystems and soil health, and by working towards the maintenance of a sustainable agro-ecosystem. 

Cattle grazing brings balance to the ecosystem as many species rely on grassland habitat. Without cattle grazing, the grasslands change and can no longer sustain wildlife.

Canadian cattle also play a vital environmental role in utilizing crops damaged by weather or pests and non-retail quality fruits and vegetables. Not only are these products upcycled into beef, they are diverted from landfills. Modern production practices produce more beef from fewer animals which maximizes resources like land and water for other wildlife to benefit from.  

Grazed grasslands collect carbon from the atmosphere
and store it in plants, roots and the soil – a natural and extremely stable carbon sink.

Canadian cattle farmers and ranchers are producing beef with lower GHG emissions and using fewer resources too. Improvements in productivity and efficiency have also produced environmental benefits such as healthier soil microbes, reduced soil losses and increased soil organic matter (also known as carbon sequestration).