Last week I watched a documentary on Netflix called “Kiss the Ground.” This high-quality production released in 2020 features Woody Harrelson as narrator and includes interviews with Tom Brady, his wife Gisele Bündchen, Patricia Arquette and Allan Savory. This is yet another big budget, widely distributed film that addresses climate change and a solution for a way out of what they call "death by global warming."

Normally documentaries about climate change vilify cattle and meat consumption, such as the widely distributed “Cowspiracy” that was shown across the county at colleges and universities a few years back.

At least in this film about climate change, cattle are not the villains. Rather, they are offered up as a solution. But here’s the catch: They must be grass-fed and -finished. Beef cattle feedlots for finishing are shown, quite convincingly, to be bad and in need of elimination.

The premise of the film is that if farmers would stop tilling up soil for monocrops that require a lot of water, synthetic fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides (primarily field corn and soybeans) and change their land use to regenerative no-till farming practices, there’s hope to capture the carbon in the atmosphere and get it back into the soil. The presentation is quite convincing, as the farmers and ranchers interviewed have changed their land use to regenerative farming practices, which includes the use of cattle to amend the soil.

I oftentimes respond out loud when I notice inaccuracies in documentaries. I don’t yell and scream like some overly excitable grown-ups do while watching a football game, but I do like to add color commentary for the benefit of my wife and kids, who of course (at least pretend to) appreciate my insightful comments!

Some of my responsive comments to this documentary were:

“But they’re only telling part of the story about feedlots and their environmental impact …”
“Consumers won’t all switch over to grass-fed beef …”
“But farmers use different types of equipment for monocropping compared to rotational, no-till practices, and they don’t address that …”
“All of the beef we export is grain-finished beef and we would lose most of that business by eliminating feedlots …”

There is a clear tension between the type of beef consumers want to consume and the perceived environmental impact of finishing practices. Grain-fed beef equals high quality marbled beef that will grade at USDA Prime and Choice. Fed beef is what you want when you’re spending a small fortune on a special steak dinner at a steakhouse or cooking a special meal.

Here’s my question for beef consumers: Can we still feel guiltless when enjoying a grain-fed beef steak and at the same time be concerned about the environment? Do we really have all the facts that paint the full picture?

This is a complex topic that can’t be adequately addressed in a short blog, conversation, or post on any popular social media platform.

We need our own full-blown documentary — but why don’t we have one yet?

If you say "because we can’t afford one," I’ll laugh and say that we can’t afford not to have one much longer.

Last week the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, announced that no more meat would be served to children in any public schools on Fridays, effective immediately. Now why would he think that idea will maintain popular support, unless he’s convinced that everyone else has already been convinced of that perspective? We need a convincing film to tell the positive story of agriculture and the benefits of meat consumption.

Do you agree or disagree? If you agree, what aspects of the meat industry and meat consumption do you think would be the most important priorities to highlight?

Beef saves the planet! Where’s the catch?

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