August 2, 2016 // 09:00 AM EST
We’ve all heard of grass-fed
beef, but here’s a new twist: beef that doesn’t trample the habitats or nests
of grassland birds.
This innovative idea comes out of
Brazil, where a network of conservation organizations have teamed up with the
Carrefour supermarket chain to test-market all-natural beef that is raised in
an extra-sustainable manner.
The bird-safe beef—bearing the
logo of Alianza del Pastizal (“Grassland Alliance”)—is currently for sale in
two grocery stores in the city of Porto Alegre. If consumers respond well to
the initial three-month promotion, the beef will hopefully be rolled out to a
larger number of stores, said Pedro Develey, director of SAVE Brasil, one of the four
conservation organizations involved in the program.
So how is this beef better for
birds? Well, the meat in question all comes from cattle ranches on what’s known
as the
Southern Cone grasslands, which range from Brazil down to Argentina.
This million-square-kilometer network of prairies—home to 12 endangered bird
species, including the saffron-cowled blackbird (Xanthopsar flavus), the marsh
seedeater (Sporophila palustris), the chestnut seedeater (Sporophila
cinnamomea) and the black-and-white monjita (Xolmis dominicanus)—faces
ever-increasing pressures from industrial-scale agricultural companies, which
are snapping up the land to raise cattle.
Not only does this involve
converting much of the grassland into agricultural plant species, it also
leaves the ground-dwelling birds and their nests susceptible to being trampled
to death by herds of hungry cows.
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