Here at IERE, we have recently been collaborating with Jo Robinson, author of Why Grassfed is Best. Jo has been studying the health effects of growing animals on grass rather than in confinement. The amount and distributions of fatty acids in animal products are clearly healthier for the consumer. More details can be found on her website: http://www.eatwild.com.

We are interested in grazing systems because many of the environmental impacts of farming are reduced when animals are grazed in near-natural systems. Some examples are:

• Manure is spread across the fields by the animals, thus permitting tight cycling of nutrients. This means that pollution of streams and groundwater is essentially eliminated.
  
• Pasture land is rarely treated with pesticides of any kind. This is in marked contrast to the high herbicide and insecticide use on the typical cornfield. Beef raised in confinement typically get over 85% of their calories from corn.
  
• Pastureland has much more organic matter in the soil than fields of row crops. This is because pastureland is rarely plowed (which releases the carbon into the air) and because the tight nutrient cycling in a pasture creates a highly diverse soil ecosystem. More organic matter in the soil means less need for irrigation, and less CO₂ in the air to cause global warming.
  
• Properly managed pastureland creates highly diverse and stable grass ecosystems, thus preserving wildlife habitat.