Sustainability seems to be the buzzword on everyone’s lips right now, whether you’re Joaquin Phoenix, a meat company executive or a cattle rancher. Even at the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s Summit coming up in May, which has more typically centered around animal welfare, we’ll have several sessions around the topic. What can we say, we follow the trends.

As an industry, we have a lot of positive things to talk about when it comes to sustainability. Research continues to demonstrate our commitment to efficient production and conservation of resources, and groups like the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and the newly-formed U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Poultry and Eggs are tackling the issue head-on and ensuring we remain leaders in this area. Despite those positives, there is obviously plenty of negative discussion around sustainability and animal agriculture — and unfortunately a lot of it is coming from within our own community.

Many in animal agriculture and the meat industry seem quick to criticize industry efforts that involve partnerships with environmental organizations such as the Environmental Defense Fund and the World Wildlife Fund. I get it, the sustainability dialog is not always friendly to our industry, and some environmental groups can be just as extreme and reliant on spreading inaccurate information as animal rights activist groups (who are involved in this area as well, of course — they can’t pass up an opportunity to pile on negativity toward animal agriculture).

But we shouldn’t dismiss the chance to work with well-respected organizations who want to take a collaborative, science-based approach to the issue. Finding allies that may seem unlikely on the surface that we can find common ground with is only going to help us take our seat at the table and be part of the conversation, even if we may not agree on everything.

This is coming from the Alliance perspective, mind you. Much of our work focuses on monitoring activist groups and trying to convince companies not to engage with them, because there is no room for productive dialog with organizations who don’t want your industry to exist. If groups in animal agriculture were trying to engage with extremist organizations, we’d be the first to call them out.

Both WWF and EDF are supportive of animal agriculture. WWF’s Jason Clay spoke at our Summit back in 2014 about animal agriculture and the environment and said the key to sustainability is optimization: “Set up programs to help farmers achieve sustainability. Switch from a practice-based approach; it isn’t about changing your practices, it’s about the result.” In a recent blog post, EDF affirmed the importance of keeping animal proteins on the plate, saying “plant-based foods are booming, but we need sustainable meat, too.”

After all the negative campaigns animal agriculture has dealt with from animal rights organizations and some environmental groups, I understand that we may be a little gun-shy about seeking partnerships. And any potential group we’re looking to work with should absolutely be carefully considered, including looking into past efforts and messages along with connections to other more extreme organizations. But when we do find those rare opportunities to reach across the table and connect with organizations from outside of the barnyard, we need to take them.

Sitting down at the table with unexpected allies

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