[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 75 (Thursday, May 5, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2349-S2350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          National Beef Month

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, it is my pleasure to celebrate with my 
colleagues the month of May as National Beef Month, and I come to the 
floor not just to say that we ought to eat more beef and help the 
farmers and cattlemen of this country.
  Before I get to something else, though, Iowa has the seventh largest 
cattle inventory in the United States and ranks fourth in the country 
for cattle and calves on feed. While I usually focus on the need for a 
fair and transparent market for cattle producers, today I want to draw 
attention to the job that cattle producers across the country have 
feeding America and the world.
  Over the last 30 years, the U.S. population has increased by 80 
million people. In that same period, the world's population has grown 
by more than 3 billion people. In the face of a growing population, 
farmers across America have been faced with a challenging question: How 
do we meet the growing demands for food while also lowering our 
environmental footprint?
  American farmers and ranchers have risen to that occasion; in other 
words, not just producing more food but helping the environment at the 
same time. Farmers in all segments have expanded production to fulfill 
increasing demand while protecting our environment. The United States 
is currently producing 80 percent more pork, 48 percent more milk, and 
18 percent more beef than just 30 years ago.
  Now, you would think, with all that increase in production, you would 
have more of an environmental problem, but despite the increases in 
production, per unit greenhouse gas emissions from pork production have 
decreased by 20 percent and 8 percent for beef production.
  Nonetheless, environmentalists still seem to place unwarranted blame 
on farmers for contributing to our changing and warming climate. The 
recent narrative that U.S. agriculture is a major contributor to 
greenhouse gas emissions is simply not true. Now get that--it is simply 
not true. According to the EPA, only 11 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas 
emissions come from agriculture. The leading sources of greenhouse gas 
emissions contribute nearly twice as many emissions as the agriculture 
industry does. Transportation contributes 27 percent, electricity 
contributes 25 percent, general industry is contributing 24 percent. So 
I am here to set the record straight. For the last 30 years, American 
farmers have been reducing greenhouse gas emissions with each meal 
served by embracing efficiency and the adoption of new technologies.
  Agriculture needs to have a seat at the table for these conversations 
because farmers are the first conservationists and can help offset 
emissions from other sectors of the American economy. Whether it is 
creating carbon sinks on farmland to produce biofuels

[[Page S2350]]

or turning farm waste into energy, farmers have taken a very active 
role in reducing the environmental impact of agriculture.
  Research from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that even if 
the entire world was vegan, it would lower global emissions by less 
than one-half of 1 percent, while losing access to high-quality protein 
very much needed in the diets of human beings.
  However, the facts that I have mentioned do not matter to radical 
environmental groups or the mainstream media. Articles on food 
sustainability often focus on how eating insects and bugs can help save 
the planet. A simple search on the internet reveals some unsettling 
articles in our publications. A headline from Time magazine reads like 
this: ``How Humans Eating Insects Could Help Save the Planet.''
  Then from the publication The Atlantic: ``To Save the World, Eat 
Bugs.''
  And from the New York Times--can you imagine, the New York Times: 
``Why Aren't We Eating More Insects?''
  All of these stories have a very common thread--to solve world hunger 
and to protect the environment, the American people and the world need 
to eat bugs and insects. But as I have already laid out, you can just 
eat more beef and feel good about the environmental impact.
  Now, as for me, I will be doing my part in May to honor National Beef 
Month. I will be eating juicy hamburgers or eating steak, if the price 
isn't too outrageous--and it is right now. I will be supporting 
cattlemen from Iowa who produce the highest quality beef in the world. 
Farmers know firsthand the importance of a clean and healthy 
environment. It is simply unfair to place the blame of a changing 
climate on the backs of farmers.
  As a nation, we must stand with the farmers across the country and 
work with them to promote a clean environment. I will continue working 
at the policymaking table to ensure our cattle producers can continue 
raising high-quality beef for generations to come and that families can 
enjoy it at their kitchen tables at prices they can afford.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. King). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.