McDonald’s and Ducks Unlimited Canada recently hosted a 10-hour livestream of Manitoba grasslands
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Multiple organizations held an online event together to give Canadians a glimpse into how companies work with farmers and ranchers to produce food and support the environment.
Ducks Unlimited Canada and McDonald’s hosted a 10-hour livestream of Manitoba grasslands to raise awareness about the importance of these lands and their contributions to food and sustainable agriculture.
“Grasslands are some of the world’s most productive and diverse ecosystems, but these habitats and the species they support continue to be lost at alarming rates,” Ashwin Ramesh, McDonald’s Canada’s sustainability & impact strategy lead, told Farms.com.
Grasslands are important as they absorb and store carbon, filter water and support food security.
And the number of available acres of grasslands is decreasing.
More than 80 per cent of Prairie grasslands have been lost already, Nature Conservancy Canada says. And 60,000 additional hectares (148,263 acres) of grasslands disappear each year.
Grasslands are essential to helping support biodiversity, livestock and food availability.
“The iconic, craveable burgers our guests love start with ingredients from Canadian farms and ranches,” Ramesh said. “Cattle help ensure the preservation of grasslands. They fertilize the soil and help maintain plant biodiversity through grazing, controlling invasive grasses and allowing other species to thrive.”
The grasslands shown in the 10-hour livestream belong to the family of Kristine Tapley, a McDonald’s beef supplier and producer from Langruth, Man., and Ducks Unlimited Canada’s sustainability lead.
During the broadcast, viewers saw and heard the activity that goes on in grasslands. And they engaged in conversation with reps from the Canadian Cattle Association, Cargill and CRSB.
Grassland conservation has always been part of Tapley’s family’s farm management plan.
“We’ve always been passionate about protecting habitat and managing our farm in a way that protects the land and all the other critters out there,” Tapley told Farms.com. “One of our other pastures was an abandoned gravel mine that we restored. And since we’ve done that, we’ve seen our grazing capacity almost double.”
Tapley hopes consumers who watched the livestream develop an appreciation for beef production and grassland conservation.
Because those are two areas that can work together, she says.
“Cattle can coexist with the ecosystem they live in, and I think that sometimes gets lost in the conversation, and it’s different than other ways we get food,” she said.
And for farmers, many producers are already engaged in grassland conservation.
They just may need to think about it differently, she said.
“Some farmers might find it daunting and wondering what they have to change,” she said. “But I think if they jump into the conversation they’ll realize they’re already using a lot of grassland conservation practices and just need to find a way to quantify it.”