How much pasture fed beef is eaten in the US today?
It is difficult to determine the percentage of pasture fed beef in today’s market as much of it is marketed by individual producers and through farmers markets where there is little, if any, marketing data captured. However, natural, organic and grass-fed beef is the fastest growing category in fresh meats. All of the natural meats combined are somewhere less than 5% of the total beef consumed. Here in the Northeast producers are turning to these natural market sectors as higher priced land and labor make it prohibitive if not impossible to compete effectively in traditional agriculture. Natural, organic and grass-fed beef commands premium prices in the consumer marketplace and allow these producers more opportunity produce meat animals profitably. Historically, most cattle were grazed because that is what their digestive system was designed for. However, in colder regions, such as here in the Northeast, where pasture is unavailable during the long winters, producers supplemented the c
